Around 50 Conservative, Labor and cross-party peers are due to meet on Wednesday morning to discuss how they can amend or stop the Northern Ireland bill which has already passed the House of Commons. They will receive advice from legal and constitutional experts on options, including strategies to delay the bill or use a process that could collapse it entirely. Peers have not yet been told when the bill returns for a second reading, but they are predicting heavy defeats. They say there is growing concern not only about widely publicized proposals that would allow the government to tear up parts of Northern Ireland’s Brexit protocol, but also ministerial powers that would give ministers to introduce new laws as they see fit. “My concern is not so much the Brexit issue but the constitutional issue. Henry VIII’s powers are outstanding here. In my view we would be turning the country into an elected dictatorship rather than a parliamentary democracy and I do not use those words lightly,” said one peer. “What is happening here is that parliament will give carte blanche to any minister to do whatever he wants to do without any explanation, including violating international law,” they added. Another said: “We have to be very careful here not to undermine international treaties” adding that it would be “very, very unreasonable not to have some element of parliamentary scrutiny”. The peer said there was “great unhappiness” among some Conservative party colleagues “and in the official opposition benches” about the prospect of “weakening” of parliamentary control. The earliest the bill, tabled by Liz Truss this summer, can be debated in the Lords is the second week of October, but there are hopes it will be delayed further so the EU and UK can find a negotiated solution. the Brexit controversy. One option to derail the bill is to table an amendment to delay the bill for one day and nine months which would push it into the second half of 2023. Government sources have defended the bill, arguing that it applies to too narrow a set of rules, which it believes should be changed without EU consent. Questions have been raised about clauses in the bill which state that “a minister of the crown may, by regulations, make any provision that the minister considers appropriate in relation to the Northern Ireland protocol”. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Another suggests giving similar powers to the Treasury or HMRC. Katie Hayward, professor of sociology at Queen’s University and an expert on the protocol, said: “Henry VIII’s superpowers give ministers permission to legislate well beyond the scope of the protocol. “If the government’s intention is to use these powers simply to make technical adjustments, why are they so broad and unlimited?” As Brussels prepares for a tough battle in the coming weeks, hopes have grown that the UK will return to talks with the EU to find a negotiated solution. Truss is due to meet European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in New York on Wednesday and agreed with the Irish prime minister at a meeting in London on Sunday that there was an opportunity for a new attempt at talks. European relations will also be tested at an EU-UK expert committee on EU-funded programs due to take place on Thursday. The committee will discuss the UK’s continued exclusion from the flagship Horizon Europe science program in retaliation for the UK’s failure to implement the NI protocol. Downing St has been approached for comment.
