Brexit latest news: Priti Patel contradicts fellow ministers to insist Internal Market Bill doesn't break law

Coronavirus latest news: EU pushes single quarantine rule for travel Tory revolt grows over plans to amend the Brexit divorce deal How the PM failed to sway Tory rebels over Brexit Bill 'safety net' EU can resolve Brexit row to prevent no deal, say Irish foreign minister Calls for UK ban on Chinese data firms after leak reveals 40,000 Britons in intelligence files Subscribe to The Telegraph Priti Patel has insisted that the Government is "absolutely not" breaking the law through the Internal Market Bill, contradicting fellow Cabinet ministers including Boris Johnson. Last week Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis told MPs the bill would "break international law in a very specific and limited way". Speaking in the Commons yesterday, the Prime Minister did not back away from this, instead stressing that powers would be held "in reserve" and only used as a last resort. This morning however, when asked about Mr Lewis' comments, the Home Secretary told Sky News: "We are absolutely not doing that [breaking the law]. The purpose of the bill is to ensure we preserve the integrity of the UK … but also stay true to the people of Northern Ireland in terms of the Good Friday Agreement. She added: "Parliament is sovereign when it comes to how international treaties are not only interpreted but applied through acts of parliament." But in a sign of the strength of rebellion the Government now faces Andrew Mitchell, the former chief whip, said he will not support the bill when it reaches committee stage, despite having backed it last night. He told the Today programme: "To ask members of the parliamentary party to walk through lobby quite deliberately voting to breach international law is something I cannot do and is causing very considerable anxiety and worry on the backbenches." The bill passed its second reading with 340 votes to 263 — a majority of 77. Just two Conservative MPs voted against the bill - Roger Gale and Andrew Percy - while a further 30 Tories did not vote. Mr Mitchell said he backed the principle of the bill, to protect the UK's internal market. He added: "When we come to look at bill clause by clause I will with enthusiasm support all the early clauses, but when it comes to the element that a Cabinet minister stood at the dispatch box and said 'this breaches international law', laws we have passed, I cannot do that."

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