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The Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP

MP for North Shropshire

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Internal Market Bill

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The Attorney General has issued a statement setting out the legal basis upon which the Government has acted.  

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/916702/UKIM_Legal_Statement.pdf

 A single internal market is a long-established cornerstone of the UK constitution. The Articles of Union between England and Scotland from 1707, and those between Great Britain and Ireland in 1800, explicitly abolish all customs duties between different parts of the United Kingdom. The Articles also enshrine the principle that, in all treaties with foreign powers, “his Majesty’s subjects of Ireland shall have the same privileges and be on the same footing as his Majesty’s subjects of Great Britain.” 

The UK Internal Market Bill is necessary to maintain this free flow of trade around the country. The clauses in the Bill which have received particular attention are those which would allow the Government to restrict the so-called “direct effect” of parts of the Northern Ireland protocol, in order to ensure that they cannot be used by the EU to demand the imposition of EU tariffs on all goods passing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. This would be a clear breach of the Belfast Agreement by altering the constitutional status of Northern Ireland without the consent of the people of Northern Ireland. It is thus entirely proper that the Government should act in order to prevent such a situation from arising.  

Parliament’s ability to pass the clauses which the Government has proposed is expressly provided for in Section 38 of the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, which clearly reaffirms the principle of parliamentary sovereignty. As the Attorney General and other senior lawyers have set out, there are sound legal arguments that these clauses do not breach established international law. It is a general principle of international law that treaty powers should be exercised in good faith. The potential for the EU to use the terms of the Protocol to impose tariffs could be reasonably argued to be an exercise of treaty powers in bad faith. Given that, the Government’s measures are designed to protect the UK from the abuse of a power and are a correspondingly justified measure under international law.  

More fundamentally, by breaching the Belfast Agreement, the EU would be breaching a treaty which is not only between Governments, but also between community representatives in Northern Ireland. There is no provision in international law for a later treaty to which those community representatives are not parties to over-ride an earlier treaty and the rights which it enshrines. Once again, therefore, the Government is justified in taking steps to prevent the possibility of such an outcome.  

The Government is, therefore, acting both in the interests of the United Kingdom and within established international law. 

Campaign Responses

  • Human Rights in Tibet 01/04/21
  • Nuclear Weapons 31/03/21
  • Access to Pension Credit 16/03/21
  • Animal research and Early Day Motion 256
  • Animal welfare and farrowing crates 16/03/21
  • Antisemitism and UK universities 16/03/21
  • Conversion therapy 23/03/21
  • Legacy benefits and support during the pandemic 16/03/21
  • Marine ecology 24/03/21
  • Misogyny and the safety of women and girls 24/03/21
  • Persecution of Christian women around the world 16/03/21
  • The UK protecting biodiversity 24/03/21
  • Women's rights organisations overseas 16/03/21
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 16/03/21
  • The Murder of Sarah Everard 16/03/21
  • Asylum accommodation 22/02/2021
  • Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill 22/02/2021
  • Dementia and Coronavirus 08/02/21
  • Neonicotinoids 05/02/21
  • FFP3 Masks 02/02/21
  • Trade Deals 19/1/21
  • CAMRA Save Our Pubs Campaign
  • Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffee and Anoosheh Ashoori
  • Coronavirus: Closed Churches
  • Planning Reform
  • British Heart Foundation and Medical Research Charities
  • Free School Meals 27/10/2020
  • Immigration Bill: Family Reunion
  • Women and Equal Pay
  • MPs' Pay
  • Shelter's 'Building Our Way Out' Report
  • Immigration Detention Time Limit
  • Coronavirus: Maternity Care
  • 'Fire and Rehire' Tactics
  • Agriculture Bill: Animal Welfare and Trade
  • Breast Cancer
  • Coronavirus: Disabled Welfare
  • EU Negotiations
  • Coronavirus: Household Debt
  • Asylum Seekers Support and Employment
  • NHS Pay Rise
  • Global Wildlife Trade Ban
  • Protecting Girls in Crisis
  • Extension of Covid-19 Support Schemes
  • Fuel Duty
  • Medical Cannabis: Epilepsy
  • Proportional Property Tax Proposal
  • Israel: Peace Agreements
  • Coronavirus: Public Test and Trace
  • Air Quality
  • Pet Microchipping
  • Green Recovery
  • Pancreatic Cancer's No Time to Wait Campaign
  • Children's Health
  • Overseas Operations Bill
  • Asylum Support Payments
  • Internal Market Bill
  • Coronavirus: Vulnerable Christians
  • Wellbeing and Counselling in Schools
  • Disposable BBQs
  • Domestic Abuse Bill
  • Coronavirus: Ovarian Cancer
  • General Practice
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  • Coronavirus: Mental Health
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  • Trade Deals
  • Persecution of Christians
  • Coronavirus: Travel Industry
  • Heat Pumps
  • Yemen
  • Low Income Countries: Debt Cancellation
  • EDM 529
  • Rough Sleeping
  • Coronavirus: Performing Arts
  • Black Curriculum
  • Coronavirus: Clinically Vulnerable Returning to Work
  • British Food Production Standards
  • FCO and DfID Merger
  • Mental Health: Face to Face Assessments
  • Coronavirus: Government backing for business
  • George Floyd, Black Lives Matter and export controls
  • Immigration Bill
  • Radiotherapy Services
  • PPE: Health and Social Care
  • Road Speed Limits
  • Fur Free Britain Campaign
  • Coronavirus: Asylum Support Payments
  • Israel the West Bank
  • 'No Recourse to Public Funds' Campaign
  • Trade Bill - US Free Trade Agreement
  • Illegal Wildlife Trade - EDM139
  • Trophy Hunting - EDM50
  • Environment Bill: OEP
  • Coronavirus: Free School Meals
  • Coronavirus: Trussell Trust's Proposed Emergency Income Support Scheme
  • Coronavirus: Abortion
  • Coronavirus: Childcare and Childminders
  • Environment Bill: Air Quality
  • Windrush Report
  • Universities and Antisemitism
  • Immigration Points System
  • EDM57 - Regulation of Social Networks
  • Coronavirus: Motor Nurone Disease
  • Horseracing: use of the whip
  • EDM 291 - Ban on war experiments on animals
  • Coronavirus: Iran Sanctions
  • Dementia Care
  • Agriculture Bill: Animal Welfare and Food Safety
  • Northern Ireland Abortion Framework
  • Animal Cruelty Sentencing
  • Gamebird Welfare
  • My letter to constituents regarding Government financial support for airlines
  • Voter ID
  • Brexit update 10th October 2019
  • 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration
  • Adults with eating disorders
  • Cycling and Walking
  • TV licence for over-75s
  • "People's Vote"
  • Arms to Saudi Arabia
  • Tax Cuts
  • Affordable Housing
  • Earthquakes and Fracking
  • Probate Fees
  • My letter to Constituents regarding the suspension of Parliament
  • Consumer Credit and "rip off loans"
  • Trafficked children
  • Trophy Hunting
  • Immigration Bill and the NHS
  • NHS Long Term Plan
  • Puppy Smuggling
  • Assisted Dying event 11th December
  • Caging of pheasants and partridges
  • Beer Duty
  • Sex-selective abortion
  • Dying at Home
  • Rohingya Children
  • Footpaths
  • BBC impartiality
  • Defend Israel
  • Ban Al Quds and Hezbollah
  • Stand Up for Nature
  • Communities vs Blood Cancer
  • Homelessness
  • Horses on the road
  • Horse tethering
  • Fracking
  • Offensive Weapons Bill and shop workers
  • Royal Commission on Policing
  • FIxed Odds Betting Terminals
  • DVLA and diabetes monitoring technology
  • Future trade deals
  • Housing Regulator
  • Stop Christophobia campaign 21/05/19
  • The Abuse of Children and Civilians by Hamas
  • Live Exports
  • Cost of Medicines
  • Plastic pollution in UK rivers
  • Eating disorders
  • Forced abortion
  • Cancer Treatment - Coronavirus

Owen Paterson MP MP for North Shropshire

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Promoted by Nick Bardsley, on behalf of Owen Paterson, both of NSCA, Suite 2, 16b Church Street, Oswestry, SY11 2SP
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