“This bill aims to make Parliament complicit in a scheme that openly disregards two fundamental principles – that once agreements are reached should be respected and that the government is not above the law,” said David Anderson, an independent member of the Lords. “How can we track this?” It gives the government the power to change aspects of the EU Withdrawal Agreement, a legally binding agreement that regulates the terms of Brexit reached earlier this year. Of course, I totally reject the general remarks about the attitude of the British Government and the accusatory remarks towards the Prime Minister. On the one hand, the Prime Minister has been open to our position. In a negotiation, each party must understand the position of the other. The so-called subject of the statement that has been repeated in Parliament – the joint committee`s agreement on the protocol on Northern Ireland – is a good example of pragmatic cooperation. So there is evidence that the UK government is willing to seek a deal and negotiate in good faith. Gentlemen, I will not go into the details of the negotiations with India, even though I know that the noble gentleman has a special interest, and I respect and understand him. The goal of Her Majesty`s Government is to expand free trade agreements as much as possible, as we believe that free trade is one of the greatest sources of increased poverty and the human condition ever developed. I welcome the recent announcement of a new free trade agreement with Singapore. Gentlemen, I am grateful to the Prime Minister`s Whip for allowing him to be represented on our bench, and I am pleased that the minister is sharp today. Will the noble gentleman allow this House to debate the content of the technical documents as a result of the agreements reached? We know that the statement in the House of Commons was only part of it.
The statement by the Vice-President of the Commission and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster was very brief, but alluded to a number of technical documents which will have far-reaching consequences for the functioning of trade in Northern Ireland and Great Britain, as well as for the other areas for which the Joint Committee is responsible. Will we be able to debate that? Ministers said the bill would provide a “backstop” in the event that the EU suspends the deal, particularly the section on Northern Ireland, in an “extreme and unreasonable” manner. The stretch – known as the protocol – aims to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. On the EU side, the European Parliament also approved the ratification of the agreement on 29 January 2020[40] and the Council of the European Union approved the conclusion of the agreement by email on 30 January 2020[41]. [42] Accordingly, the European Union also deposited its instrument of ratification of the Agreement on 30 January 2020, thus concluding the Agreement[43] and brought it into force on the date of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union, on 31 January 2020, at 11 p.m GMT. On 15 November 2018, a day after the agreement was presented and supported by the Cabinet of the British government, several members of the government resigned, including Dominic Raab, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. [28] On the note of the noble baroness, I conclude that the Labour Party would accept a deal that would give us no control over our borders, our laws and our fish, because the line it advanced was indeed “agreement at all costs”. . . .