Ireland: No Brexit trade deal if international law is broken

Ireland is warning that no post-Brexit trade deal will be struck if the UK pushes on with a plan to break international law.

Tensions have ratcheted up following comments by senior figures in both governments ahead of another crucial week for negotiations.

Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney told Sky News that should Boris Johnson persist with trying to override parts of the EU divorce deal, then a new treaty on the future relationship will be off the table.

“This is move week,” he said. “We’ve got to make big progress.”

But a senior minister in the UK confirmed that Mr Johnson will stick to his plan and keep the controversial parts of the draft legislation in place.

Peers have removed the offending bits of the Internal Market Bill, which included giving ministers the power to “disapply” parts of the with withdrawal agreement relating to goods moving between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.