The UK must stand for the rule of law

The issue

In June 2022, the Government introduced the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill. This Bill would have unilaterally changed the deal we struck with the EU over Northern Ireland – the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The then Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, claimed that the Bill complied with international law, but the Government refused to publish its legal advice in full. Most legal experts said that the legislation would have been a clear breach of international law.

We believe the UK should not violate international law because doing so would trash our reputation on the world stage.

Breaking international law would destroy our ability to speak out when countries like Russia do the same, leaving us unable to stand up for democracy and the rule of law around the world.

Our campaign

We launched a petition in response to the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill. Our petition called on the Prime Minister to show us the legal advice in full, and to ensure that the United Kingdom does not break international law. The petition received almost 10,000 signatures.

In October, we wrote to the Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, and asked him to clarify whether the Government intends to proceed with legislation which would enable it to break international law. The Foreign Office did not respond.

We contacted key peers in the House of Lords to urge them to oppose this misguided and unnecessary bill. Several peers responded to say they shared our concerns about the illegality of the bill.

In the House of Lords debate, 40 peers, of all political persuasions, spoke up about what a disaster the Bill would be for our standing in the world. This included former Conservative Party Leader, Michael Howard, who warned the Government that they "cannot pick and choose" when to obey the law.

We believe that fierce opposition to the bill in the House of Lords was one of the reasons why the Government eventually chose to negotiate with the EU rather than breaking the law.

An agreement with the EU

On 27th February 2023, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a deal had been reached between the EU and the UK on trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.

The Government confirmed that it will not be proceeding with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, and it will lapse at the end of the current Parliamentary session.

We are glad that the UK Government will not violate international law, but it should never have been an option. The UK obeying international law should have been a given.

In a recent survey, 88.1% of our supporters told us that they are pleased to see that the Government’s Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is to be dropped.

What’s next?

We will strongly oppose any future attempts by the Government to break international law.

We believe in a democratic United Kingdom, that is a ‘good citizen’ in the world. A country which honours its agreements and obeys international law.

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