Brexit talks on the verge of collapse as UK government refuses to drop Internal Market Bill

London played host to the eighth round of trade talks between the United Kingdom and the European Union, but one Brussels official said that British proposals had "seriously damaged trust" between the bloc and former member state.

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Despite the lack of progress made in the last round of trade talks, Britain's chief negotiator Lord David Frost told the Mail on Sunday that the UK will not "blink" nor become a "client state" to the European Union as he attempts to untangle 47 years of political unity between the UK and Brussels.

Nonetheless, comments made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson sparked outrage across Europe as he suggested that he could pass a bill through Westminster that could override the "contradictory" parts of the Withdrawal Agreement approved by the parliament in January.

The bill, dubbed the Internal Market Bill, will enter the second reading stage in the House of Commons on Monday. If the government is successful, it will have the right to clarify that intra-UK trade will continue with unfettered access between Britain and Northern Ireland. 

The announcement comes as the Sun reported that the EU threatened to prohibit food exports from Britain to Ulster in the event of a no deal Brexit. 

However, it is not just those in Europe who feel frustrated by the attempt to rewrite parts of the withdrawal treaty and the Northern Ireland protocol. 

The Financial Times revealed that Jonathan Jones, the head of the UK government's legal department, resigned from his post and the Guardian has added that legal advice in Whitehall remains divided.

Critics of the bill were to be even more incensed when Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis told the Commons that the bill would be in breach of international law. 

Sir Bob Neill, Tory MP, has since tabled an amendment to the bill that would attach a parliamentary lock. In effect this would require the parliament’s approval before the use of new powers that could override parts of the Withdrawal Agreement. 

One signatory of the amendment, Sir Oliver Heald, told Pi Media that "It is vital to uphold the rule of law. Bob Neil’s amendment gives the government the opportunity to conclude negotiations with the EU before an irrevocable breach of international law.”

“This amendment provides a parliamentary lock so that Parliament can decide," Heald added.

However, while The Times unveiled that up to 30 Tory MPs may rebel against the government, it is in the House of Lords that the government faces the biggest challenge. 

Even the Brexiteer Lord Michael Howard suggested that a breach of international law would bring the UK's global standing into disrepute. 

Nevertheless, clear fault lines are re-emerging on the contentious bill akin to those in 2019. 

Solicitor Martin Howe disagreed with fellow lawyers and claimed that the bill is "perfectly justifiable". 

Howe added that the EU has acted in bad faith throughout negotiations and an "alteration of the constitutional status of Northern Ireland would breach the core principle of the Good Friday Agreement." 

The former Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns took a more political tone in his support for the bill. Cairns argued that the bill would be the start of a "fight back to save our United Kingdom" against current trends of separatism.

The government believes it has the freedom to legislate for such a bill under Section 38 of the Withdrawal Agreement Act. 

This stated that "the Parliament of the United Kingdom is sovereign...notwithstanding the withdrawal agreement" and that "nothing in this Act derogates from the sovereignty of the Parliament of the United Kingdom."

As events developed, emergency talks were held between Britain's Brexit supremo Michael Gove and European Commission's Vice President Maros Serfcovic. In these discussions, the EU requested the UK to drop the bill.

Gove told his European counterpart that the UK "could not and would not" scrap the bill as it was "critical to ensuring that there is unfettered access for goods from Northern Ireland to the rest of the United Kingdom."

The former joint head of the Vote Leave campaign added that the government had to implement legislation "in a way that makes sure the gains of the Good Friday Agreement are absolutely secured and enhanced in the future." 

Laura Kuenessberg of BBC News noted that EU officials claimed that Gove was "not the usual gentleman" and did not deploy his "usual diplomatic language".

In response, the European Union has threatened to take legal action against the United Kingdom. 

Since then, Boris Johnson has continued to hold firm and even penned an article in his former paper, the Telegraph, to reiterate that his manoeuvres are in response to the “threat” that the EU has posed to the integrity of the UK during these trade talks.

Amidst the furore, Frost and EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier did give statements about the state of negotiations. Both men agreed that "challenging areas remain". 

Barnier accused Frost's team of "refusing to include indispensable guarantees of fair competition in our future agreement."

However, Frost appeared to clap back against Barnier's imputations and said that the UK had "consistently made proposals which provide for open and fair competition… in a way which is appropriate to a modern free trade agreement."

The UK government has maintained that the October 15 deadline will be adhered to and therefore the UK and EU have 34 days to conclude any agreement. 

The two negotiating teams meet again for the ninth round of talks next week, this time back in Brussels.