THE UK Government has suffered a heavy defeat in the House of Lords over controversial Brexit legislation that enables ministers to break international law and has been described as a power grab on the devolved nations. 

Peers backed 395 votes to 169, majority 226, a “regret” amendment, condemning the disputed provisions in the UK Internal Market Bill.

Lord Fox commented: “We all know this Bill is illegal and we know it flouts important constitutional issues and threatens devolution.

“More than that, we know it has already eroded trust in our institutions and we know it is damaging the reputation of this country, which promotes the rule of law.

READ MORE: WATCH: Lord admits Internal Market Bill is 'power grab' on Scotland

“Finally, and perhaps most insidiously, we know that any law that seeks to permit the executive to break laws is morally wrong.”

Referring to the “egregious clauses” in the Bill, Labour frontbencher Lord Stevenson of Balmacara argued the UK Government’s “pre-emptive action has placed the United Kingdom in the wrong” and damaged Britain’s “international reputation as a defender of the rule of law”.

He added: “When the history of these troubled months comes to be written it will not be kind to the current Prime Minister and his Cabinet.”

And Lord Judge, a former lord chief justice, who proposed the regret amendment, said: “The fact of the matter is the law would be broken. There can be no getting away from it.

“You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand the rule of law. And you certainly don’t have to be a lawyer to understand when you are giving powers away.

“You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand the reputational damage to the United Kingdom.

“We cannot resile from the fact that we are breaking the law if this Bill is enacted.”

Responding to the vote, one of the largest in the history of the Lords, Cabinet Office minister Lord True opened with a dig at the archbishops, who have been deeply critical of the legislation.

He said: “I did have some reflections during the course of the debate and at one point found myself asking if Henry VIII’s foundation of the Church of England was fully in accord both with our domestic law and international obligations.”

Lord True told peers: “We share a full and fundamental respect for and belief in the rule of law.”

Defending the Government’s “limited, contingent proposals” in the Bill, he added: “It does not accept that these safeguard provisions render our country, as has been claimed, an international pariah or justify, as was asserted, murderous actions by others. People are still talking to us.”

The defeat comes after a Lords committee blasted the Internal Market Bill, saying it risks “destabilising” devolution.

In a report the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution said Westminster must listen to the devolved administrations’ concerns and amend the bill, or remove the offending parts altogether.