'Boris govt's action is embarrassing the nation'

UK PM Boris Johnson. File Pic/AFP

Two former British prime ministers who played crucial roles in bringing peace to Northern Ireland joined forces Sunday to urge lawmakers to reject government plans to override the Brexit deal with the European Union, arguing that it imperils that peace and damages the UK's reputation.

In an article in The Sunday Times, John Major and Tony Blair slammed the current UK government for "shaming" the country with legislation that, in places, goes against the very deal it signed to allow for the UK's smooth departure from the EU earlier this year.

Major, a Conservative PM from 1990 to 1997, and Blair, his Labour successor for a decade, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Internal Market Bill "questions the very integrity" of the UK. "This government's action is shaming itself and embarrassing our nation," they said.

The planned legislation, which will be debated by British lawmakers this week, has led to a furious outcry within the EU as it would diminish the bloc's previously agreed oversight of trade between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland if a U.K.-EU trade agreement isn't secured.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told the BBC on Sunday that the legislation was a "break the glass in emergency provision," if needed, and that he would resign if he believed the rule of law was broken in an "unacceptable" way. "I don't believe we're going to get to that stage," he said.

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