Conservatives including former leaders criticise plan to override withdrawal deal

Boris Johnson is facing separate Conservative rebellions on Brexit and Covid-19 rules, as Tory MPs mobilise to undermine the controversial legislation that overrides the EU withdrawal agreement.

The tabling of an amendment by a former minister, Bob Neill, to the internal market bill in an effort to create a parliamentary veto on overriding the UK-EU divorce deal sets up a showdown next week on the bill’s second reading in the House of Commons.

Among other senior Conservative figures who have also come out strongly against the bill’s proposed powers is the former party leader Michael Howard, who said it was “a very sad day last week when the Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, admitted that amending the UK’s Brexit deal with the EU will break international law”. The peer also said he would be “very surprised” if the bill got through the the House of Lords, where the Conservatives did not have a majority [ . . . ]

Continue at THE GUARDIAN: Boris Johnson faces Tory rebellions on Brexit and Covid rules