THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched legal action against the UK Governemnt after Boris Johnson refused to back down on his illegal trade bill.
The Commission gave Westminster until the end of September to amend the UK Internal Market Bill, which will break international law as it goes against the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
However no amendments to the bill were made that would stop it from breaking previously-agreed lega obligations, and as such the Commission has now launched legal action.
President of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that “infringement” proceedings would start immediately, beginning with a formal notice asking the UK to give an explanation for its law-breaking intentions.
The bill breaks the law as it would over-write some parts of the withdrawal agreement on the checks of goods going between northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Ms Von der Leyen said: “We had invited our British friends to remove the problematic parts of their draft internal market bill by the end of September.
"This draft bill is by its very nature a beach of the obligation of good faith laid down in the withdrawal agreement. Moreover, if adopted as is, it will be in full contradiction of the protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.
“The deadline lapsed yesterday, the problematic provisions have not been removed. Therefore this morning the Commission has decided to send a letter of formal notice to the UK government. This is the first step in an infringement procedure.”
She said that the letter would invite the UK government to submit its “observations” on the issue within a month.
The president added: "We stand by our commitments."
A government spokesman said: "We will respond to the letter in due course.
“We have clearly set out our reasons for introducing the measures related to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
"We need to create a legal safety net to protect the integrity of the UK’s internal market, ensure Ministers can always deliver on their obligations to Northern Ireland and protect the gains from the peace process.”
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