Keir Starmer said on Monday that the government’s plan to override elements of the Northern Ireland protocol will reduce the chances of an agreement with the EU.
The Labour leader said that issues with Brussels could be resolved “around the negotiating table with statecraft” and not with legislation that “breaches international law” and will impede negotiations.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson insisted the plan to effectively override parts of the Brexit deal with the EU was “not a big deal”.
The legislation to amend the protocol unilaterally will be introduced in Parliament on Monday amid controversy over whether the legislation will break international law.
“What it does is create unnecessary barriers on east-west trade – what we can do is fix that. It’s not a big deal,” the prime minister said on a visit to Cornwall.
Ireland‘s Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said the plan would “ratchet up” tension and breach the UK’s international commitments and that the charges marked a particular “low point” in Brexit talks.
But Mr Johnson insisted the legislation would introduce “relatively simple” bureaucratic changes and warned it would be a “gross overreaction” if Brussels sought to retaliate by triggering a trade war.
