The United Kingdom unveiled legislation to override parts of the Brexit deal it signed with the European Union, risking a trade war with the bloc, which threatened to take legal action.
The bill seeks to hand the U.K. powers to unilaterally rewrite the bulk of the Northern Ireland protocol, which kept the region in the EU single market after Brexit, creating a customs border with mainland Great Britain. If passed, the new law would allow ministers to rip up the regulatory framework both sides agreed to in 2019 and replace it with new rules on customs checks, tax and arbitration.
“This is a reasonable, practical solution to the problems facing Northern Ireland,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. “It will safeguard the EU Single Market and ensure there is no hard border on the island of Ireland.”
