The astonishing admission on 8 September 2020 by the Conservative Government through the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, that it was seeking to adopt legislation which would (if enacted) violate International Law, albeit engaging in the now (sadly) characteristic sophistry by adding ‘only in a specific and limited way’ to effect ‘minor clarifications", should be seen for what it is - continuation of the destructive trend towards unilateralism and erosion of trust in the rules based system.
On 19 October 2019, Boris Johnson described the Withdrawal Agreement (the Treaty) which he signed on behalf of the UK as ‘an excellent deal’ which would ‘take this country and the whole of Europe forward’.
On 23 January 2020 the EU Withdrawal Act (the Act), Section 7A thereof sought to give domestic effect to the Treaty, specifically by the means set out in Article 4 of the Treaty, so as to achieve direct effect for applicable
