UK govt defiant after House of Lords rejects Brexit bill

LONDON (AP) — The British government is refusing to withdraw legislation that breaks a legally binding Brexit treaty, despite a resounding rejection of the bill by the upper house of Parliament.

The House of Lords voted by large margins late Monday to strip from the Internal Market Bill clauses that give the government power to break sections of the divorce agreement it signed with the European Union before the U.K. left the bloc in January.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government acknowledges that the bill breaches international law, and the legislation has been condemned by the EU, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and scores of British lawmakers, including many from Johnson’s Conservative Party.

Former Conservative leader Michael Howard, a member of the Lords, said he was “dismayed” by the bill and urged the government to think again.

But the government said it would restore the rejected sections when the bill returns to the House of Commons in the coming weeks.

It says the bill is needed as an insurance policy to ensure smooth trade among all parts of the U.K. — especially Northern Ireland, which shares a border with the EU — no matter what happens to U.K.-EU trade after Brexit.

“We’ve been consistently clear that the clauses represent a legal safety net to protect the integrity of the U.K.’s internal market and the huge gains of the (Northern Ireland) peace process,” the government said in a statement.

Britain left the EU’s political structures on Jan. 31 but remains in its economic embrace until a transition period ends on Dec. 31. The two sides are trying to strike a new trade deal, but talks are stuck on key issues, and have been soured further by the Internal Market Bill.