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Boris Johnson’s government has been accused of offering only “pathetic” changes to childcare in a bid to bring down costs for parents and boost availability.A consultation will look at increasing the number of children that can be looked after by each staff member – with proposals to change staff-to-child ratios from 1:4 to 1:5 for two-year-olds.The government had estimated that the changes could potentially save parents £40 a month, based on a family paying £265 a week for a child under two.But junior minister Will Quince has admitted the ratio change is “not going to significantly change costs” for parents.“The ratio change in itself is no silver bullet or panacea or magic bullet, it is not going to significantly change costs, because what we don’t expect is settings to routinely or religiously go to one to five,” the children and families minister told Sky News.Ministers say the plan to change staff-to-child ratios will give providers more flexibility in how they run their businesses while maintaining safety and quality of care.The government has said this could “potentially” and “eventually” reduce the cost of this form of childcare by up to 15 per cent, if providers adopt the changes and pass all the savings on to parents.But the Early Years Alliance – the largest early years membership organisation in England has criticised the plan – saying it was “beyond frustrating that the government is wasting its time consulting on relaxing ratios”.Neil Leitch, chief executive of the charity, said the government should admit “that if we want to have affordable, quality, sustainable care … we need to invest substantially more into the sector than we are doing at the moment”.Early Years Alliance research shows that the proposal to relax ratios for two-year-olds in nurseries and pre-schools from 1:4 to 1:5 would “fail to lower the cost” as well as driving down quality and worsen the “catastrophic recruitment and retention crisis”.TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady also said the government proposals “won’t help”, saying: “Cutting staffing ratios will just put more pressure on underpaid and undervalued childcare workers.”The union leader added: “Instead of making policy on the hoof, ministers should listen to childcare workers. It’s time for a proper funding settlement for childcare.”Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, described the announcement as “pathetic” and said it “fails to deliver the ambition families need to tackle spiralling childcare costs”.She added: “Tweaking ratios is not the answer parents want and not the answer children need. The vast majority of providers have made clear this would make no difference to costs for parents.”The government said it will also support more people to become childminders, streamline the Ofsted registration process for providers and encourage the growth of Childminder Agencies.Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said the proposed reforms “prove again that this government is on the side of working families”.The cabinet minister said he was “determined” to support the child care sector “by giving them greater flexibility in how they run their services”.Defending the plans on Monday, Mr Quince argued that countries with cheaper childcare provision pay more in tax.“We currently invest around £4bn to £5bn a year on childcare and early years’ education… there are other countries – France, Sweden the Netherlands– who do put far more money into early years’ education,” the junior minister said.The minister also said the government was running a campaign to raise awareness that families are entitled to up to £2,000 per year towards childcare costs tax-free, while those on Universal Credit could recover 85 percent of their childcare costs from government funding. More

Conservative party rebels have said Boris Johnson’s handling of allegations that MP Chris Pincher groped two men has made it more likely he will face a fresh confidence vote in the months ahead.One Tory backbencher said the row had “100 per cent” bolstered efforts to oust Mr Johnson, while another said: “We’ve got the votes now to get rid of him.”Current 1922 Committee rules dictate that another challenge cannot be held for a year after last month’s confidence vote, which Mr Johnson won despite 148 Tory MPs voting against him.But rebels believe this month’s elections for the 1922 Committee’s executive could focus on a compromise proposal to allow another vote, amid serious questions about Mr Johnson’s judgment in appointing Mr Pincher.The change would mean a second confidence vote could be held immediately if 25 per cent of Tories in the Commons – 90 MPs – submit letters to the 1922 leadership, double the current amount required to trigger an initial vote.“This is a unifying manifesto point,” one MP told The Times on the idea of a 25 per cent requirement. “It unites those chomping at the bit to get him out and those who are reserved about rules changes.”Another rebel backbencher told the newspaper that Mr Johnson’s handling of the Pincher row “has certainly sharpened minds to act because it all goes back to the prime minister”.Rebels are said to believe they now have the 180 votes to get rid of the PM if they can force a confidence in the weeks ahead, if they can win a “clean slate” at the 1922 Committee set toOne senior backbencher told The Telegraph: “We’ve got the votes now to get rid of the PM”, but added: “It would be wrong to just run another election on the same rules.”Mr Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Friday following claims that he groped two men at the Tories’ Carlton Club on Wednesday. He admitted that he had “embarrassed myself and other people” while being drunk, but denies sexual harassment allegations.The PM was criticised for failing to suspend the whip from the MP until late on Friday. Mr Pincher has faced a series of fresh allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies, over the past few days.Mr Johnson is now facing demands to set out what he knew about allegations of inappropriate behaviour centring on Mr Pincher before appointing him to the Tory whips’ office in February.The PM is alleged to have referred to the MP as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” before making him deputy chief whip.Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds has written to Mr Johnson demanding to know what No 10 knew of the allegations before his second appointment as a whip. “This prime minister is clearly happy to sweep sexual misconduct under the carpet in order to save his own skin,” she said.Meanwhile, in a new allegation, one man told The Sun that Mr Pincher said “inappropriate things” before touching the top of his thigh in a meeting in the MP’s constituency office in 2018.It follows a series of allegations over the weekend. A Tory MP told The Independent he was groped on two occasions by Mr Pincher, first in December 2021 and again last month.The Mail on Sunday alleged Mr Pincher threatened to report a parliamentary researcher to her boss after she tried to stop his “lecherous” advances to a young man at a Conservative Party conference.The Sunday Times reported allegations that Mr Pincher had groped a male Tory MP in 2017, made unwanted advances towards a different Tory MP in 2018, and did the same towards a Tory activist in Tamworth in 2019.Mr Pincher denies all such allegations. He said in a statement on Saturday that he is seeking “professional medical support” and would co-operate fully with the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme inquiry into his alleged behaviour.The allegations follow his first resignation in 2017 as a whip over claims he made unwanted advances to Olympic rower Alex Story. After a Tory party investigation into the incident, he was cleared of any breach of its code of conduct.Junior minister Will Quince defended Mr Johnson over the deepening row. “I have been given categorical assurance that the prime minister was not aware of any serious specific allegation,” he told Sky News on Monday.Mr Quince said that he cannot imagine the PM would refer to Chris Pincher as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” long before appointing him in February. “I think that quote came from Dominic Cummings, who’s not someone who I give a huge amount of credibility to,” he told LBC.Meanwhile, sources close to three cabinet ministers say they are dismayed at having to publicly answer questions about what Mr Johnson knew of claims, according to The Telegraph. More

Tory party staff working in parliament have criticised Boris Johnson for a “failure to act” on claims of sexual misconduct, as the PM faces growing calls to explain what he knew about allegations against Chris Pincher.Mr Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Friday following claims that he groped two men at the Tories’ Carlton Club. A series of new misconduct claims, denied by the MP, have since emerged.Conservative Staffers for Change said they were “disappointed” at the failure to suspend Mr Pincher earlier, and said the PM had “serious questions” to answer about what he knew of the MP’s alleged behaviour.A spokesman for the staff members, a group of young people working for MPs, told The Times that the allegations “come as no surprise” since claims made about Mr Pincher’s behaviour were “an open secret” in Westminster.“We are disappointed not only by how long it took to remove the whip from Pincher, but also at the continued lack of clarity about what the PM knew,” the spokesman added.In May, Conservative Staffers for Change wrote open letters to Mr Johnson and then-chairman Oliver Dowden, urging them to address “the toleration and acceptance of abuse [in parliament]”. Although the group received a response from Mr Dowden, Mr Johnson did not reply.“We wrote the letter to the PM raising concerns about illegal sexual misconduct in May yet received no response. This is not simply about the culture in Westminster, it is about the PM’s failure to act.”Mr Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Friday following claims that he groped two men at the Tories’ Carlton Club on Wednesday. He admitted that he had “embarrassed myself and other people” while being drunk, but denies sexual harassment allegations. Mr Johnson is now facing growing demands to set out what he knew about allegations of inappropriate behaviour centring on Mr Pincher before appointing him to the Tory whips’ office in February.Former No 10 strategist Dominic Cummings has claimed that Mr Johnson referred to the MP as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” before making him deputy chief whip.Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds has written to Mr Johnson demanding to know what No 10 knew about Mr Pincher prior to the appointment.“Only Boris Johnson could have looked at this guy’s record and thought ‘he deserves a promotion’,” she added in a statement. “This prime minister is clearly happy to sweep sexual misconduct under the carpet in order to save his own skin.”Labour peer Baroness Jenny Chapman, shadow Cabinet Office minister, said: “I don’t think anybody in Westminster believes that Boris Johnson did not know about the allegations about Mr Pincher.”Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain laid the blame for the “sleazy toxic government” with Mr Johnson. “He must now be forced to reveal what he knew.” More

Tory party staff working in parliament have criticised Boris Johnson for a “failure to act” on claims of sexual misconduct, as the PM faces growing calls to explain what he knew about allegations against Chris Pincher.Mr Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Friday following claims that he groped two men at the Tories’ Carlton Club. A series of new misconduct claims, denied by the MP, have since emerged.Conservative Staffers for Change said they were “disappointed” at the failure to suspend Mr Pincher earlier, and said the PM had “serious questions” to answer about what he knew of the MP’s alleged behaviour.A spokesman for the staff members, a group of young people working for MPs, told The Times that the allegations “come as no surprise” since claims made about Mr Pincher’s behaviour were “an open secret” in Westminster.“We are disappointed not only by how long it took to remove the whip from Pincher, but also at the continued lack of clarity about what the PM knew,” the spokesman added.In May, Conservative Staffers for Change wrote open letters to Mr Johnson and then-chairman Oliver Dowden, urging them to address “the toleration and acceptance of abuse [in parliament]”. Although the group received a response from Mr Dowden, Mr Johnson did not reply.“We wrote the letter to the PM raising concerns about illegal sexual misconduct in May yet received no response. This is not simply about the culture in Westminster, it is about the PM’s failure to act.”Mr Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip on Friday following claims that he groped two men at the Tories’ Carlton Club on Wednesday. He admitted that he had “embarrassed myself and other people” while being drunk, but denies sexual harassment allegations. Mr Johnson is now facing growing demands to set out what he knew about allegations of inappropriate behaviour centring on Mr Pincher before appointing him to the Tory whips’ office in February.Former No 10 strategist Dominic Cummings has claimed that Mr Johnson referred to the MP as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” before making him deputy chief whip.Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds has written to Mr Johnson demanding to know what No 10 knew about Mr Pincher prior to the appointment.“Only Boris Johnson could have looked at this guy’s record and thought ‘he deserves a promotion’,” she added in a statement. “This prime minister is clearly happy to sweep sexual misconduct under the carpet in order to save his own skin.”Labour peer Baroness Jenny Chapman, shadow Cabinet Office minister, said: “I don’t think anybody in Westminster believes that Boris Johnson did not know about the allegations about Mr Pincher.”Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain laid the blame for the “sleazy toxic government” with Mr Johnson. “He must now be forced to reveal what he knew.” More

Starmer criticises Johnson’s ‘lack of influence’ over NatoBoris Johnson showed “bad judgement” in appointing Chris Pincher to the whips’ office despite knowing of sexual misconduct allegations against him, Sir Keir Starmer said.Downing Street today admitted the prime minister was aware of claims against the now-suspended MP when he made him deputy chief whip in February.Asked about Mr Johnson’s position, Sir Keir told Sky News: “I have got no sympathy with a prime minister who repeatedly makes bad judgment calls.“We have been living with a version of this story for month after month after month. Bad judgment by a man who puts himself above everything. I don’t have any sympathy for him.”Mr Pincher, who was hit with a string of other misconduct claims over the weekend, previously resigned from the whips’ office in 2017 amid claims he made an appropriate pass at a Conservative Party candidate.The scandal has once again brought Mr Johnson’s leadership into question, with senior Tory MP Sir Roger Gale warning his party “cannot go on like this”.Show latest update

1656969379That will be all for The Independent’s live coverage of politics for this evening. Make sure to check back tomorrow for updates.Liam James4 July 2022 22:161656967234Boris Johnson claims Scottish independence could be ‘utterly tragic for the whole world’Boris Johnson has claimed Scottish independence would be “utterly tragic for the whole world” if it caused the UK’s armed forces to be divided.Speaking in the House of Commons, Conservative MP Brendan Clarke-Smith claimed Scottish nationalists would cut defence spending and “unilaterally disarm” if they achieved independence.Mr Johnson replied: “The Scottish contribution to our armed services is immense, everybody knows it, it’s a fantastic thing, it helps to make the UK what it is.“It would be utterly tragic for the whole world if the UK armed services were to face a division of that kind or a loss of that kind.”Defence is an issue that Scots have said is a key benefit of being part of the UK.Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has outlined plans to hold a second vote on Scottish independence on 19 October next year. Mr Johnson said a referendum was not a priority for the government.Liam James4 July 2022 21:401656965749Porn Tory says wife ‘chases him with scissors’The former Tory MP who resigned for watching porn in the House of Commons said his wife chases him around the kitchen with scissors aiming for “part of my anatomy” (Matt Mathers writes).Neil Parish was forced to quit in May after it emerged that he twice watched adult content in parliament in view of female colleagues.Speaking to ITV’s Lorraine today, he revealed his wife’s reaction to the incident: “She knows I’m no angel,” he said. “In fact she chases me around the kitchen with the scissors going, ‘snipper-snap’ knowing full well which part of my anatomy she’s after.”A shocked looking Ms Kelly replied by saying, “OK,” before Mr Parish added: “She knows what I’m like.”Ms Kelly then suggested that he must have had some “very awkward conversations” with his wife after the reports first came to light.“You’ve said she knows what you’re like, she accepts that I guess, but that conversation must have been very difficult,” she said.Mr Parish said that his wife has supported him throughout his career in Westminster and “she’s done so much with me.”Liam James4 July 2022 21:151656964234Jacob Rees-Mogg defends Boris Johnson for promoting grope claim MPJacob Rees-Mogg has defended Boris Johnson’s decision to appoint Chris Pincher to the whips’ office in knowledge of sexual misconduct claims against him.The Brexit opportunities minister told LBC’s Tonight With Andrew Marr: “There were rumours. I think prime ministers have to be just, they can’t just say, ‘I’ve heard a bit of gossip and I think you’ve done something that I wouldn’t approve of’.“You can’t judge people on rumours, that’s fundamentally unjust. There are rumours about all sorts of people that turn out never to come to anything.”Before the latest round of allegations against him, Mr Pincher had resigned in 2017 over claims he groped a Tory activist in 2001. He denied the allegations and a party investigation ruled in his favour.Liam James4 July 2022 20:501656963034Give MPs vote on assisted dying, says Matt HancockMPs should have the opportunity to debate assisted dying in the House of Commons, Matt Hancock said in a Westminster Hall debate on the healthcare question.The Conservative former health secretary said it had been seven years since the last Commons vote on assisted dying.He went on: “I can speak as a former health secretary to say that the medical movement as a whole is changing its view and I think it is appropriate that we raise this question in a voteable manner on the floor of the House of Commons once again.“I can’t see how the minister can argue other than that we need an informed, compassionate debate on the floor of the House of Commons. For 50 years we have had a legal choice over who to love, for a decade we have had a legal choice over who we can marry.“So let’s have an informed debate over when the end is inevitable and when the pain is insufferable, how we die.”In Westminster Hall this evening MPs are debating a petition, which has received more than 155,000 signatures, calling for assisted dying to be legalised for “terminally ill, mentally competent adults”. Liam James4 July 2022 20:301656961834Labour peer reveals nightmare 999 call as wife lay dying in his armsA leading scientist has revealed how he faced a “litany of questions” after calling for an ambulance as his wife lay dying in his arms.The renowned broadcaster and fertility expert Robert Winston said such a “waste of time” was critical when seconds count in dealing with a cardiac arrest.The Labour peer spoke of the deeply traumatic experience as the House of Lords heard that “thousands” of people were dying because of delays to the arrival of paramedics.This has been blamed on hold-ups in being able to hand patients over and getting ambulances back on the road to answer new calls – meaning people calling 999 wait longer than they should.Speaking in the chamber, Lord Winston said: “Some months ago, as my wife lay dying in my arms, I phoned the 999 service. The man answering the call asked me a litany of questions and asked me to count her number of heartbeats per minute. That waste of time is critical. With a cardiac arrest you have only a few seconds … When eventually the man backed down, it was obvious that he had not been trained to ask the right questions.”He added: “Can the minister assure the House that there is proper training for people who answer these calls at these critical times, when they are dealing with someone who may recognise that their close relative is dying, and that the latter can hear what they are saying on the telephone?Thanking the peer for sharing his “very personal story”, health minister Lord Kamall said “clearly, there are too many incidents of this kind,” and promised to take the question to his department.Liam James4 July 2022 20:101656960574Jacob Rees-Mogg says Starmer has copied Tories on BrexitJacob Rees-Mogg accused Sir Keir Starmer of pitching a “half-cock” copy of the Conservatives’ post-Brexit plans for Britain.Speaking ahead of the Labour leader’s speech in which he laid-out the plans for dealing with the EU in future, the Brexit opportunities minister told LBC’s Tonight With Andrew Marr: “I’m fascinated by what he’s got to say, or reports of it … and what he wants to do, by and large, is things either that the Conservatives are doing [because] they want to change the Northern Ireland Protocol, so I hope he’ll support us on our bill.“And he wants recognition of qualifications, which we’ve already legislated for. So you do wonder if he was half asleep last year.“I think all that Sir Keir is going to be saying later on today is that he wants to do what the Conservatives are doing but half-cock, so it’s not much of an announcement by him today.”Liam James4 July 2022 19:491656959447Starmer pitches five-point plan to ‘make Brexit work’Sir Keir Starmer has laid out a five-point plan to “make Brexit work” in a speech to the Centre for European Reform on how a Labour government would chart Britain’s future course in the world.The Labour leader said his party was “claiming the centre ground of British politics once again”, not from a “mushy place of compromise”, but driven by “purpose” and “optimism”.He said he would say more about how it intends to get the country’s economy growing again “in the weeks and months to come”, but the first step is to make a success of leaving the EU.Speaking at the Irish Embassy in London, he said: “There are some who say, ‘We don’t need to make Brexit work – we need to reverse it’. I couldn’t disagree more.“Because you cannot move forward or grow the country or deliver change or win back the trust of those who have lost faith in politics if you’re constantly focused on the arguments of the past.“We cannot afford to look back over our shoulder because all the time we are doing that we are missing what is ahead of us.“So let me be very clear. Under Labour, Britain will not go back into the EU. We will not be joining the single market. We will not be joining a customs union.” More

The government has “no intention” of putting forward a specific national strategy to tackle spiking, it has revealed. Ministers have turned down the recommendation by MPs who carried out an inquiry into the crime. The Home Affairs parliamentary committee had urged the government to look at the efficacy of different anti-spiking initiatives and come up with a national strategy that “promotes best practice”. The government rejected the idea as it published its response into the inquiry on Monday. It said a report on spiking, including reviews into anti-spiking initiatives and case studies of best practice, is due next spring and will ensure the government is “taking the best possible action” to tackle the crime. “There is currently no intention to publish a specific spiking strategy,” the government’s response said.It added: “But it is the government’s intention that the statutory report will highlight this best practice and provide avenues for organisations to communicate and share tips and strategies.” The Home Affairs committee launched an inquiry into drink and injection spiking last year following a wave of reports involving needles and nightclub boycotts calling for tougher action to stamp out the crime.It found a “victim-blaming culture” could be leading to missed opportunities to collect vital evidence and offenders were facing “few deterrents”, with low prosecution rates and victims coming across barriers to reporting. In March The Independent revealed fewer than 2 per cent of cases reported to police resulted in a charge in nearly five years. The select committee put forward its series of recommendations to help tackle spiking in April, including a national communications campaign setting out punishments and encouraging victims to report cases. The government’s response said it was already working on this communications campaign and was looking at sharing messages around the start of the university year, when there was a surge in reports of needle spiking in 2021. It said it was also looking at boosting communications over how suspected spiking victims or those around them should act, which could include outreach across the education and private sector. But the government rejected a recommendation for the compulsory safeguarding training of festival staff. Instead, it would update guidance to say adequate training should be considered in licensing decisions. Dawn Dines from campaign group Stamp Out Spiking said: “We are delighted to hear that government are taking training of staff seriously and we are proactively working towards helping licensing authorities get festivals, bars and clubs trained up.” She also welcomed the government taking action to review reporting data. “More crime reporting data is vital to help identify where these crimes are taking place and who is being targeted,” she said. The government said it was considering options for research on the motivations of perpetrators, which was a committee recommendation. “The government agrees with the committee’s assessment that the motivations of spiking offenders remain unclear, particularly around the newly identified incidences of needle spiking, and that the lack of understanding limits our ability to effectively tackle spiking through targeted interventions,” a spokesperson said. The Home Affairs committee said the government had welcomed most of its recommendations on spiking. More

Investigations by parliament’s misconduct watchdog are taking up to two years to reach their conclusions, prompting fears victims may be deterred from making complaints.The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) was set up in the wake of the Pestminster scandal to deal with complaints relating to bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct by MPs, peers and parliamentary staff.But figures show that the average length of investigation closed in 2020/21 lasted 196 working days, while the longest inquiry took 572 working days to conclude – representing more than two years.It comes as Chris Pincher – the MP who quit as the Conservatives’ deputy chief whip and was suspended by the party following allegations he groped two men in Westminster – faces six further sexual misconduct claims.One Tory MP told The Independent that he was groped on two occasions by Mr Pincher, while the Mail on Sunday carried claims that he made unwanted advances against an individual a decade ago.The Sunday Times reported allegations that Mr Pincher had groped a male Tory MP in 2017, made unwanted advances towards a different Tory MP in 2018, and did the same towards a Tory activist in Tamworth in 2019. Mr Pincher denies all allegations of sexual harassment.Boris Johnson is also under growing pressure over the decision to give Mr Pincher his role in the whips’ office, amid claims he referred to the MP as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature”.Work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey defended the PM on Sunday, but conceded that she had only been told by the No 10 press office that Mr Johnson had been unaware of any “specific claims” against Mr Pincher. It follows bruising defeats for the Tories in two by-elections last month, each triggered by the resignation of a disgraced MP. Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan, who represented Wakefield, formally quit the Commons in early May after being convicted in April of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. On 23 May, Khan was jailed for 18 months.Neil Parish, the former Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton in Devon, stood down after admitting watching pornography in the Commons.One union, Prospect, which represents hundreds of parliamentary staff, described a two-year time frame to conclude a case as “beyond the pale”, adding that “taking a long time adds hugely and unnecessarily to the stress suffered by the complainant”.The ICGS’s annual report – which included the figures showing the average length of investigation closed in 2020/21, as well as that of the longest – noted: “Of the 48 investigations completed this year, 37 were cases carried over from preceding years (some of which were complex, non-recent cases).“Every effort is being taken to reduce the length of time of investigations – through greater efficiencies, extra resources in the team, streamlining the processes, better training and guidance for investigators – while not compromising the rigour and robustness of investigations.“However, the complexity of some ICGS cases inevitably means that such cases will take a great deal of time to investigate.”The body upheld 46 per cent of investigations completed in 2020/21, the report noted. The longest time taken by an investigation that was closed in 2019/20 was 244 working days, with the figure standing at 198 in 2018/19.The average length of investigation increased from 121 working days in 2018/19 to 127 in 2019/20, before hitting 196 in 2020/21. More

Germany and Ireland have condemned the U.K government’s move towards unilaterally rewriting parts of the post-Brexit deal with the European Union.German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Irish counterpart Simon Coveney said there was “no legal or political justification” for overriding the agreed trade rules in Northern Ireland.Writing in British newspaper The Observer on Sunday, the ministers say Britain will be breaking an international agreement just two years old which it hadn’t engaged in with “good faith.”The so-called Northern Ireland Protocol within the deal maintains an open border with EU member Ireland and free of customs posts.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s administration wants to remove the checks on goods such as meat and eggs arriving in Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K., which protect the European Union’s single market.Lawmakers in London passed legislation which permits the move last week. Johnson’s critics, opponents and some members of his own party, along with European observers, have said the plan breaks international law. The government argues it is justified because of the “genuinely exceptional situation.”Baerbock and Coveney said the bill wouldn’t fix the “challenges” around the protocol.“Instead, it will create a new set of uncertainties and make it more challenging to find durable solutions,” they wrote.The foreign ministers also argued the move jeopardizes peace in Northern Ireland under the Good Friday Agreement, which helped end decades of sectarian violence and has stood since 1998.Johnson’s government has hoped to pass the legislation, which will be debated again in Parliament on July 13 by the time its summer break begins later in the month. This could see it become law by the end of 2022.The EU has threatened to retaliate against the U.K. if it goes ahead, raising the prospect of a trade war between the two major economic partners.Separately, Irish Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told the BBC on Sunday it wasn’t “appropriate or right” time for a poll on Irish reunification.Varadkar said such a referendum, permitted under the Good Friday Agreement when a majority in Northern Ireland in favor of a united Ireland is considered “likely,” would be “divisive and defeated” at the moment.The Northern Ireland Assembly, its devolved legislature, has been paralyzed for months over the implementation of the protocol, leaving it without a regional government. More