Legal experts savage ‘hopeless’ bid to override Brexit deal

Bill hands ‘breath-taking’ powers to ministers, warns Hansard Society

A lorry crosses the border from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland on the Buncrana Road outside Londonderry. (Liam McBurney/PA)

(PA Archive)

Boris Johnson’s legal justification for tearing up his agreement with the EU on post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland has been branded “hopeless” by the government’s former chief lawyer.

Sir Jonathan Jones’ comment came as the UK’s plans unilaterally to disapply large elements of the Northern Ireland Protocol were savaged by legal experts, with a Cambridge University professor saying that the Johnson administration had shown it was willing to “play fast and loose with the rule of law”.

And constitutional experts at the Hansard Society said that the bill tabled by foreign secretary Liz Truss on Monday was “breath-taking” in the new powers it handed to ministers to change vast swathes of the Brexit deal without parliamentary approval.