Parliament is not sitting next week and officials in charge of legislation are eyeing the fortnight following June 6. There is then a six-week window for the bill to pass the lower House of Commons before Parliament breaks for its summer vacation, planned for July 20.“You are not going to see legislation this week,” Lewis said in an interview on Monday. “We are doing some work to see that we cover all the key issues.
“Maybe the EU will see the logic and show the flexibility to come to an agreement around that,” he said. “This legislation will allow us to ratify any agreement with the EU as well if we need to do that.” The EU is ready to suspend the entire trade agreement if Johnson makes good on his threats, and the bloc warned last week it was prepared to use “all measures” to punish the UK if the bill is enacted. With no majority in the upper House of Lords the UK government may have to force the measure through, but that would take even longer.