Michael Gove has defended the government’s plan to override parts of its own Brexit deal with the EU, claiming the internal market bill was necessary to protect the territorial integrity of the UK.
He also insisted that the government is acting within the rule of law and was behaving in a constructive and pragmatic way, despite the Northern Ireland secretary admitting the new legislation would breach international law.
The Cabinet Office minister, who was doing the rounds of TV and radio programmes on Saturday morning, told BBC Breakfast the EU could put the integrity of the UK at threat without the controversial legislation the government is trying to push through in the face of outrage even within the Tory party.
We’re doing our part generously to help protect the EU’s own single market, but we’re clear that what we can’t have, even as we’re doing all that, is the EU disrupting and putting at threat the integrity of the United Kingdom, Gove said.
These steps are a safety net, they’re a long-stop in the event which I don’t believe will come about but we do need to be ready for that the EU follow through on what some have said they might do, which is in effect to separate Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.