“Drop the posturing,” says Labour as EU launches legal challenge

Rachel Reeves has told the government and the EU to “drop the posturing” as the European Commission has announced legal action over the controversial internal market bill passed recently by the Commons.

Commenting as the European bloc this morning sent the UK government a letter of notice, which begins a formal infringement process, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster urged the two sides to return to negotiations.

She said: “There is clearly a deal to be done. Both sides need to drop the posturing and the threats by getting back round the negotiating table and getting a trade deal done.

“The country wants the government to move on from past divisions, secure the trade agreement we need and focus on defeating this pandemic.”

Her comments come after the internal market bill, which overrides parts of the withdrawal agreement with the EU, passed its third reading in the lower chamber earlier this week with a majority of 84.

Under the withdrawal agreement signed by Boris Johnson less than a year ago, Northern Ireland is set to remain in the single market regardless of whether the wider UK has a deal on trade and security with the EU by the end of the year.

This means that if the UK does not reach an agreement on trade with its European neighbours, the EU’s codes on goods coming into Northern Ireland will still be required, necessitating checks at the border.

The bill would override this by narrowly defining the obligation to notify Brussels of subsidy decisions for it to approve, and dispense with the requirement for local businesses to file customs paperwork when exporting to the rest of the UK.

The legislation produced a rebellion at second reading in mid-September, with two Tory MPs voting against – Roger Gale and Andrew Percy – and 30 more appearing to abstain from voting.

But the bill completed its process through the Commons after Boris Johnson managed to head off a full-scale rebellion within his own party earlier by striking a compromise deal with Conservative backbenchers.

The government agreed the principle of an amendment tabled by Tory Bob Neill, which provides for a ‘parliamentary lock’ on the use of certain powers within the bill – allowing MPs to decide whether a minister can break international law.

The European Commission’s Maros Sefcovic warned earlier this week that the plans put forward by the UK government are “far apart” from what the EU can accept, but Conservative ministers refused to remove the controversial parts of the bill.

Keir Starmer has previously said that the government is “wrong” to propose breaking international law over Brexit, and told the government that a “good deal is there to be had and the Prime Minister needs to get on and negotiate it”.

The letter sent by the EU this morning has started a lengthy process that could eventually end in the European Court of Justice. The court could impose daily fines for the continued breach of international law.