LONDON: Britain’s former prime minister Theresa May said Monday she would not support the government’s new Brexit legislation, which will break international law, accusing the government of acting “recklessly and irresponsibly.”
May, whose 2016-2019 premiership was derailed by the tortuous Brexit process, said the draft law would “lead to untold damage to the United Kingdom’s reputation.”
“As a result, with regret, I have to tell the minister I cannot support this bill,” she told fellow MPs as the proposed legislation underwent scrutiny in parliament.
The UK Internal Market Bill unveiled earlier this month would override parts of the Brexit treaty struck by May’s successor Boris Johnson with the European Union last year.
Ministers have admitted it would breach international law.
British lawmakers voted last week to allow the draft law to proceed for further scrutiny despite EU calls for it to be withdrawn.
Numerous MPs from the ruling Conservatives cautioned against adopting the most contentious measures in the legislation, but only two ended up voting against it while 29 abstained — including May.
Lawmakers will vote again on the bill on Tuesday next week before it goes to the House of Lords for weeks of further scrutiny.
Johnson has argued it will provide a “safety net” against what he has claimed are EU threats to impose tariffs on UK internal trade and even stop food going from mainland Britain to Northern Ireland.
But EU leaders have dismissed this as spin and warned Johnson to uphold commitments he made in the Brexit treaty last year and withdraw the offending parts of the new bill by the end of the month.
The row threatens to disrupt already tough post-Brexit trade negotiations, fueling growing fears of failure that would see more than four decades of EU-UK integration come to a crashing halt at the end of this year.
Britain left the EU in January but remains bound by the rules of the 27-member bloc until December 31.
Ex-PM May attacks ‘reckless’ UK Brexit plan
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Ex-PM May attacks ‘reckless’ UK Brexit plan
- May, whose 2016-2019 premiership was derailed by the tortuous Brexit process, said the draft law would “lead to untold damage to the United Kingdom’s reputation”
- Johnson has argued it will provide a “safety net” against what he has claimed are EU threats to impose tariffs on UK internal trade
US imposes cyber-related sanctions on Russian, UAE individuals and entities
- The former executive, Peter Williams of L3Harris, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of theft of trade secrets
WASHINGTON: The US on Tuesday issued cyber-related sanctions against four people and three entities, including some based in Russia and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Treasury Department website. The entities and people were targeted “for their acquisition and distribution of cyber tools harmful to US national security,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.
In a corresponding move, the US Department of State said one of the individuals and two of the entities hit with sanctions were also designated under the “Protecting American Intellectual Property Act (PAIPA) in connection with theft of trade secrets from US persons.”
The sanctions are related to a US investigation into a former executive of a government contractor, for selling trade secrets to a buyer in Russia — one of the entities hit with sanctions — for $1.3 million.
The former executive, Peter Williams of L3Harris, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of theft of trade secrets.
The US Justice Department said he took “at least eight sensitive and protected cyber-exploit components” from his job and sold them to “a Russian cyber-tools broker.”
An exploit is a piece of code that can be used to take advantage of a software vulnerability typically for the purpose of theft, espionage or sabotage.
