Boris Johnson has sought to head off a growing parliamentary rebellion by telling MPs they will have an extra lock on plans to tear up part of the Brexit treaty and potentially breach international law.
Former chancellor Sajid Javid became the latest senior Tory to warn he would not support the prime minister’s controversial UK Internal Market Bill in its current form.
Following Mr Javid’s warning, MPs voted to give the UK Internal Market Bill a second reading by 340 to 263 — a government majority of 77.
Two Tory MPs — Sir Roger Gale and Andrew Percy — voted against the Bill, while 30 did not cast a vote although some may have been “paired” with opposition MPs.
Ed Milliband, business spokesman for the Labour Party, accused Johnson of “trashing the reputation of this country and trashing the reputation of his office”.
Mr Javid’s bombshell came as Mr Johnson stood up in the House of Commons to plead with MPs to vote for the Bill, which he describes as a “safety net” to prevent the EU blocking food exports from the British mainland to Northern Ireland.
In a bid to quell a damaging revolt he told MPs if the powers at the centre of the controversy “were ever needed, ministers would return to this House with a statutory instrument on which a vote would be held”.
Government sources played down the idea Mr Johnson had offered a concession, and said the extra vote had always been in the Bill.
A number of rebels also suggested it was not enough to secure their support.
The legislation has come under fire from all five living former prime ministers, including Mr Johnson’s immediate predecessors Theresa May and David Cameron, as well as Brexit-backing Tory grandees like former leader Michael Howard and ex-chancellor Norman Lamont.
Mr Javid — who resigned from Mr Johnson’s cabinet after senior adviser Dominic Cummings tried to seize control of his advisers — said: “It is not clear to me why it is necessary for the UK to break international law. I am regretfully unable to support the UK Internal Market Bill unamended.”
On the day strict new ‘rule of six” Covid restrictions came into force, Labour also said Mr Johnson’s plans meant there was “one rule for the British public and one rule for the government”.
Earlier, Mr Johnson’s government suffered a blow as a Tory MP Rehman Chishti resigned as the prime minister’s special envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief in opposition to the clauses in the Bill.
Mr Javid said: “While I fully backed every measure necessary to get the withdrawal agreement negotiated and passed by parliament, I cannot support the UK pre-emptively reneging on that agreement.
“I will therefore regretfully be unable to support the bill at its second reading and urge the government to amend it in the coming days.”
Meanwhile Damian Collins, former chair of the Commons Culture committee became the latest Tory MP to announce his backing for a rebel amendment, designed to give MPs a say over when the powers can be used.
Ex-minister Gary Streeter said: “I will not be supporting the government over the Internal Market Bill.”
Geoffrey Cox, who was Mr Johnson’s attorney general when the Withdrawal Agreement was signed, also criticised the plans.
He told Times Radio “the breaking of the law leads ultimately to very long-term and permanent damage to this country’s reputation and it is also a question of honour to me — we signed up, we knew what we were signing.”
Last week Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, admitted the Internal Market Bill does break international law “in a limited and specific way”.
At the weekend Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, said he would resign if the law was broken in a way he found “unacceptable”, while Tobias Ellwood, the Tory MP and chair of the Commons Defence committee compared No 10’s strategy to “Nixonian madman theory”.
An amendment, designed to give MPs a say over when the powers can be used, and seen as one of the crunch votes on the Bill, will come before MPs next week.
Its architect Sir Bob Neill said Mr Johnson’s comments were not enough and he was still opposed to “needless and potentially damaging elements” of the Bill.
Mr Johnson attempted to face down his critics in the Commons, telling MPs the controversial UK Internal Market Bill “should be welcomed by everyone who cares about the sovereignty and integrity of our United Kingdom”.
Mr Johnson said he understood those who felt unease over the measures, which he had no desire to use. They were an “insurance policy” which would never be invoked if there is a deal with the EU, he said.
But former culture secretary Jeremy Wright was among the Tory MPs who appeared to signal their misgivings, questioning the prime minister on whether the Bill would contravene the ministerial code.
A series of Tory backbenchers announced in the Commons they could not back the Bill.
Imran Ahmad Khan, the MP for Wakefield, said he could not vote for legislation which would break international law.
Other MPs appeared to express more general dissatisfaction with their government.
Tory MP Charles Walker told the Commons: “I’m not going to be voting for this bill. Because if you keep whacking a dog don’t be surprised when it bites you back.”
