herfiehandbag

This Bill would give the government the power to stop applying parts of the protocol; the same powers that are already enjoyed by the European Commission. Article 16 allows either party to not apply parts of the protocol if certain conditions are fulfilled, (these include economic, social or environmental difficulties or the diversion of trade). However, the British government does not have the power to activate its Article 16 rights. It must ask Parliament to do so. The point of the Bill is to give the government the power. The European Commission on the other hand, already has the power. It can unilaterally exercise its Article 16 rights ( it did in January 2021). Those who have argued that the UK is “breaking international law” are wrong. The Bill gives the government to activate powers that are already provided in the Protocol. There is one proposal that — if activated — could be argued to amend the protocol. It allows the UK government to remove the role of the European Court of Justice from having the final say. But the ECJ is by definition the court of one of the parties to any such dispute, so that arbitration would hardly be independent. Such an amendment would require the EU accept independent arbitration, the World Trade Organisation for example. Certain far reaching media accounts ( Channel 4 for example) make wild claims about tearing up treaties, whereas the government is merely seeking the power to apply the protocol. The government has chosen, no been forced, to confront the fact that the EU has never had any intention of resolving issues. They have never stopped going on about regulatory alignment and following EU SPS rules, and they (the EU) control the judicial process which would arbitrate such disputes.

For crying out loud just get on with it!