New trade negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom begin this week. It is in this context that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom suffered a setback in his Parliament.

After a series of votes, the Lords have severely decided to expunge from a bill of the Conservative government the provisions that would allow it to ignore some of its commitments, particularly with regard to the Northern Ireland protocol concluded with the EU. This was one of the thorniest issues in the negotiations a year ago to find a solution that avoids the return of a physical border between the British province of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, one of the 27.

No sooner had the Lords voted on Monday night than a government spokesman announced that the government would reintroduce the discarded clauses when the text returns to the House of Commons, where Boris Johnson has a very large majority. The clauses provide legal certainty to ensure the integrity of the internal market between Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as the peace process that ended three decades of violence in 1998.