Boris Johnson has held secret talks with the DUP and Tory backbench Brexiteers amid pressure to harden up legislation overriding swathes of the NI Protocol.
Wednesday June 08 2022.
Boris Johnson, here meeting DUP leader last year, is trying to allay the fears of the right of the party ANDREW PARSONS/NO 10 DOWNING STREET
Whitehall sources told The Times that the legislation had undergone "substantial redrafting" after Monday's confidence vote in an attempt to allay concerns of the Tory right.
Controversially the new law was discussed at a meeting on Tuesday night between Johnson, Liz Truss and a representative of the European Research Group (ERG) of Brexiteer Tory MPs.
One source said Johnson had agreed to make changes to the legislation before other senior cabinet ministers had seen details of the bill or been consulted on the changes.
They added that the latest draft of the bill had "lost any pretence that it was in accordance with international law".
"Simon Case [the Cabinet Secretary] has very serious questions to answer about how this was allowed to happen," they said.
"It is a complete abuse of the normal process of government. It has slight shades of how the legal advice over the Iraq war was constructed."
The legislation was discussed on Wednesday at a meeting of the Global Britain strategy committee that includes Truss, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor and the *orthern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis.
But senior ministers objected to changes to the legislation demanded by the ERG and the bill has been sent back again to the foreign office for further redrafting.
Among the changes demanded by the ERG was a new clause that would make clear that the legislation has primacy in UK law over the Brexit withdrawal agreement that includes the *orthern Ireland protocol.
They also wanted the bill to explicitly bring to an end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in *orthern Ireland and include a "sunset clause" when EU regulations would no longer apply in the province.
But after the cabinet meeting these demands have been watered down with one source saying the final legislation would look "much like" previous government plans.
The Times understands that as well as Tory Brexiteers, senior government figures have extensively consulted the DUP on the substance of the new law.
Downing Street had hoped that by strengthening the provisions in the Bill the DUP would agree to nominate a speaker to the Stormont Assembly and allow ministers to return to their departments even if full power-sharing is not restored.
"The DUP is critical. We need them to take steps to go back into government as it supports the case for action," a source said.
But there were warnings that the new clauses in the bill would make it much harder to pass the legislation through the House of Commons and infuriate Brussels.
A number of senior Tory MPs have already expressed concerns about the legislation including the chairman of the *orthern Ireland select committee Simon Hoare and Damien Green, the former de facto deputy prime minister.
One government source said the latest version of the bill would lead to "another major row over the government breaking international law again".
They said: "The plan was to have at least some sort of legal fig leaf. But when you explicitly make it clear that you're preparing to overrule the withdrawal agreement then that's gone."
It is understood the meeting in Downing Street last night involved Sir Bill Cash, a senior Tory member of the ERG and chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny committee.
It is highly unusual for individual MPs - who are not ministers - to be involved in the drafting process of legislation before it is officially signed off by ministers.
The Times understands that at the time the meeting took place the legislation had not been subject to "write round" - a process by which ministers are consulted on government decisions.
One source said the changes had been introduced at the behest of the ERG, which was unhappy at previous versions of the bill. They said civil servants were "deeply unhappy" with the way in which the process had been handled.
Follow these links to find out more on this story and more information regarding the NI Protocol: When even the Attorney General flouts the law what hope does Britain have - Suella Braverman.
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