House of Lords may dilute 'contentious' aspects of Internal Market Bill
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Monday 19 Oct 2020
(Sharecast News) - The House of Lords is likely to dilute or strike out some of the more contentious parts of the government's Internal Market Bill, possibly making it easier to strike a deal with the European Union.
Bloomberg cited people familiar with the government's position according to whom lawmakers were not likely to reject the bill outright, but they were certain to strip out the most controversial bits over the weeks ahead.
The same people believed the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, would drop or dilute those same sections of the bill if he could clinch an agreement with the EU in the meantime.
Indeed, such a trade-off might be a part of the negotiations with the bloc.
If approved in whole, the bill would give ministers powers to unilaterally rewrite the rules of trade with Northern Ireland - one of the key sticking points in withdrawal talks with Brussels.
The bill was set to start winding its way through the House of Lords on Monday.
Linked to the above, at the weekend, Michael Gove said the door was still "ajar" for a deal with the EU, although he was now less optimistic that an agreement could be struck.
Nonetheless, traders greeted the news-flow out over the weekend, pushing the pound higher by 0.67% to 1.3001, brushing off credit rating agency Moody's decision to downgrade its rating on the UK's long-term debt from Aa2 to Aa3.
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