Boris Johnson’s government will press ahead with international law-breaking UK legislation if Brexit talks end in no deal, minister George Eustice has said.
The environment secretary admitted on Sunday that negotiations were in a “very difficult position” and a critical 24 hours lay ahead, with negotiators still split on fisheries, governance and competition rules.
When asked whether the UK would reinstate controversial clauses of the internal markets bill and finance bill, which override the Brexit withdrawal agreement, Eustice confirmed they would.
It is likely to raise tensions as negotiating teams meet again in Brussels, as the EU has previously warned it would pull the plug on trade talks if key powers were not dropped.
Both pieces of legislation are due to go before parliament next week.
European figures are particularly worried about the internal markets bill, which if brought into force could lead to a hard border with the EU in Northern Ireland.
Asked by Sky News’ Sophy Ridge whether the government would continue with the legislation, he said: “Yes, we will. These clauses are very important.”
He added the legislation, which ignores parts of the withdrawal agreement brokered by Johnson that say Northern Ireland will follow some EU rules, gives “clarity to businesses” in the event of no agreement.
The environment secretary accused the EU of introducing “a whole load of additional demands” late in the negotiations.
“It is in a very difficult position – there is no point denying that,” he told Sky News’ Ridge On Sunday programme.
“There was some hope early last week, some progress was being made, and at one point it looked like there might be a breakthrough but then the European Union added a whole load of additional demands after that which caused some problems.
“We will continue to work on these negotiations until there is no point doing so any further but there is no point denying that what happened late last week was a setback.”
Theresa May’s former chief of staff Lord Gavin Barwell has criticised the government for its behaviour over the controversial internal market bill, adding it ultimately made negotiations regarding the future role of the European Court of Justice “much more difficult than it would otherwise have been”.
He told BBC Breakfast: “I completely understand why the government is determined to avoid the jurisdiction of the European court, but on the other side, the way the government has behaved over the Internal Market Bill has clearly strengthened the view on the European side that they need to make sure there’s a robust process there where they can retaliate if the UK doesn’t stand by the commitments that it made.
“I think it was a real mistake of the government to go down that road.”
Barwell said he believes a deal on a post-Brexit trade agreement is “definitely still possible”, although it will rely on whether or not both sides are “prepared to make the compromises necessary”.
He added: “We are now 25 days from the end of the transition period and business, both in the UK and in Europe, have no idea on what terms they’re going to be able to trade with their nearest market from January 1.
“That is a pretty shocking failure.”