The Telegraph, June 12 2022, Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP
It is expected that the Government will on Monday present its Northern Ireland Protocol Bill to the House of Commons. None of us actually know what is in it and yet that does not seem to have stopped some from trashing it and promising to oppose it.
I see that some in the Lords are already strutting around indicating that they don’t care about blocking the Bill, as and when it makes it to the Lords. Baroness Wheatcroft, someone who hates Brexit, has said that it is the job of the Lords to uphold the law. Yet I would have thought the first job of the House of Lords is to read what the legislation says before determining what you will do. Or is it a case of: “Sentence first – verdict afterwards.”
The Government will only bring such a Bill in if it complies with International Law. The Attorney General is not, as often incorrectly described, a member of the Cabinet, but an independent adviser to the Cabinet on legal matters. The Attorney General will have had to seek advice from expert counsel and be able to stand her final position up in front of interrogation. Given all the braying from those opposed to the legislation, saying that it breaks international Law, I am surprised that they have not acquainted themselves with the terms of the Protocol itself.
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