Joanna Taylor
Sep 15, 2020
Peter Summers / OLI SCARFF / TOLGA AKMEN / Getty Images
A bill that breaks international law has passed a vote through the House of Commons.
The Internal Markets Bill, which allows the government to renege on Brexit arrangements already agreed on with the EU, was voted through with 340 ayes to 213 noes. A Labour amendment seeking to block the bill was also defeated.
Although the bill passed, it has not yet been enshrined into law. This was the bill's second reading in the Commons: it must win a third vote there before moving on to the House of Lords.
If ratified, the bill will "break international law in a limited and specific way", according to Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis.
As well as allowing the government to violate parts of the agreement Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU (and which he repeatedly described as an "oven ready" Brexit deal), the bill will return some devolved government powers to Westminster.
There are also fears it will undermine the Good Friday agreement between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, particularly if it helps to enable a no-deal Brexit that entails checks on goods along the Irish border.
Johnson's government was fiercely challenged in the Commons by former Labour leader Ed Miliband over the proposed breach of international law.
But it's not just Labour which opposes the Internal Markets Bill.
Five former prime ministers have also spoken out against it: Theresa May, David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and John Major.
Two Conservative MPs voted against the bill – Roger Gale and Andrew Percy – and 30 abstained. Of these, some were senior level Tory politicians including former chancellor Sajid Javid and former attorney general Geoffrey Cox.
But seven DUP, one independent and 332 Tory MPs did vote in favour of the Internal Markets Bill and, by extension, to break international law. Their names are:
Tellers
James Morris
Maggie Throup
Conservative
Nigel Adams
Bim Afolami
Adam Afriyie
Imran Ahmad Khan
Nickie Aiken
Peter Aldous
Lucy Allan
David Amess
Lee Anderson
Stuart Anderson
Caroline Ansell
Edward Argar
Sarah Atherton
Victoria Atkins
Gareth Bacon
Richard Bacon
Kemi Badenoch
Shaun Bailey
Siobhan Baillie
Duncan Baker
Steve Baker
Harriett Baldwin
Steve Barclay
John Baron
Simon Baynes
Aaron Bell
Scott Benton
Paul Beresford
Jake Berry
Saqib Bhatti
Bob Blackman
Peter Bone
Peter Bottomley
Andrew Bowie
Ben Bradley
Suella Braverman
Jack Brereton
Andrew Bridgen
Steve Brine
Paul Bristow
Sara Britcliffe
James Brokenshire
Anthony Browne
Fiona Bruce
Felicity Buchan
Robert Buckland
Alex Burghart
Conor Burns
Rob Butler
Alun Cairns
Andy Carter
James Cartlidge
William Cash
Miriam Cates
Maria Caulfield
Alex Chalk
Jo Churchill
Greg Clark
Simon Clarke
Theo Clarke
Brendan Clarke-Smith
Chris Clarkson
James Cleverly
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Thérèse Coffey
Elliot Colburn
Damian Collins
Alberto Costa
Robert Courts
Claire Coutinho
Stephen Crabb
Virginia Crosbie
Tracey Crouch
James Daly
David T C Davies
James Davies
Gareth Davies
Mims Davies
Philip Davies
David Davis
Dehenna Davison
Caroline Dinenage
Sarah Dines
Jonathan Djanogly
Leo Docherty
Michelle Donelan
Nadine Dorries
Steve Double
Oliver Dowden
Richard Drax
Flick Drummond
James Duddridge
David Duguid
Iain Duncan Smith
Philip Dunne
Mark Eastwood
Ruth Edwards
Michael Ellis
Natalie Elphicke
George Eustice
Luke Evans
David Evennett
Ben Everitt
Laura Farris
Simon Fell
Katherine Fletcher
Mark Fletcher
Nick Fletcher
Vicky Ford
Kevin Foster
Mark Francois
Lucy Frazer
Mike Freer
Richard Fuller
Marcus Fysh
Mark Garnier
Nusrat Ghani
Nick Gibb
Peter Gibson
Jo Gideon
Cheryl Gillan
John Glen
Robert Goodwill
Michael Gove
Helen Grant
James Gray
Chris Grayling
Chris Green
Damian Green
Andrew Griffith
Kate Griffiths
James Grundy
Jonathan Gullis
Robert Halfon
Luke Hall
Matt Hancock
Greg Hands
Mark Harper
Rebecca Harris
Trudy Harrison
Sally-Ann Hart
Simon Hart
John Hayes
Chris Heaton-Harris
Gordon Henderson
Darren Henry
Antony Higginbotham
Richard Holden
Kevin Hollinrake
Philip Hollobone
Adam Holloway
Paul Holmes
John Howell
Paul Howell
Nigel Huddleston
Neil Hudson
Eddie Hughes
Jane Hunt
Jeremy Hunt
Tom Hunt
Alister Jack
Ranil Jayawardena
Bernard Jenkin
Mark Jenkinson
Andrea Jenkyns
Robert Jenrick
Boris Johnson
Caroline Johnson
Gareth Johnson
David Johnston
Andrew Jones
Fay Jones
David Jones
Marcus Jones
Simon Jupp
Daniel Kawczynski
Alicia Kearns
Gillian Keegan
Julian Knight
Greg Knight
Danny Kruger
Kwasi Kwarteng
John Lamont
Robert Largan
Pauline Latham
Andrea Leadsom
Ian Levy
Andrew Lewer
Brandon Lewis
Ian Liddell-Grainger
Chris Loder
Mark Logan
Marco Longhi
Julia Lopez
Jonathan Lord
Craig Mackinlay
Cherilyn Mackrory
Rachel Maclean
Alan Mak
Kit Malthouse
Anthony Mangnall
Scott Mann
Julie Marson
Jerome Mayhew
Paul Maynard
Jason McCartney
Karl McCartney
Stephen McPartland
Esther McVey
Mark Menzies
Johnny Mercer
Huw Merriman
Stephen Metcalfe
Robin Millar
Maria Miller
Amanda Milling
Nigel Mills
Andrew Mitchell
Gagan Mohindra
Damien Moore
Robbie Moore
Penny Mordaunt
Anne Marie Morris
David Morris
Joy Morrissey
Wendy Morton
Kieran Mullan
Holly Mumby-Croft
David Mundell
Sheryll Murray
Andrew Murrison
Lia Nici
Caroline Nokes
Jesse Norman
Neil O’Brien
Matthew Offord
Guy Opperman
Neil Parish
Priti Patel
Mark Pawsey
Mike Penning
John Penrose
Chris Philp
Christopher Pincher
Dan Poulter
Rebecca Pow
Victoria Prentis
Mark Pritchard
Tom Pursglove
Jeremy Quin
Will Quince
Dominic Raab
Tom Randall
John Redwood
Jacob Rees-Mogg
Nicola Richards
Angela Richardson
Rob Roberts
Laurence Robertson
Mary Robinson
Andrew Rosindell
Douglas Ross
Lee Rowley
Dean Russell
David Rutley
Gary Sambrook
Selaine Saxby
Paul Scully
Bob Seely
Andrew Selous
Grant Shapps
Alok Sharma
Alec Shelbrooke
David Simmonds
Chris Skidmore
Chloe Smith
Greg Smith
Henry Smith
Royston Smith
Amanda Solloway
Mark Spencer
Alexander Stafford
Andrew Stephenson
Jane Stevenson
Bob Stewart
Iain Stewart
Mel Stride
Graham Stuart
Julian Sturdy
Rishi Sunak
James Sunderland
Desmond Swayne
Robert Syms
Derek Thomas
Edward Timpson
Kelly Tolhurst
Justin Tomlinson
Michael Tomlinson
Craig Tracey
Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Laura Trott
Elizabeth Truss
Tom Tugendhat
Shailesh Vara
Martin Vickers
Matt Vickers
Theresa Villiers
Christian Wakeford
Robin Walker
Ben Wallace
Jamie Wallis
David Warburton
Matt Warman
Giles Watling
Suzanne Webb
Helen Whately
Heather Wheeler
Craig Whittaker
John Whittingdale
Bill Wiggin
James Wild
Craig Williams
Gavin Williamson
Mike Wood
William Wragg
Jacob Young
Nadhim Zahawi
DUP
Gregory Campbell
Jeffrey M Donaldson
Carla Lockhart
Ian Paisley
Gavin Robinson
Jim Shannon
Sammy Wilson
Independent
Julian Lewis
The consequences of breaking international law could be significant.
The government has been accused of risking the UK's reputation on the world stage and potentially jeopardising a US-UK trade deal.
As Theresa May pointed out last week: how can we negotiate trade deals with other countries if we can't be trusted to stick to agreements?
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