Two of the MPs who cover the Harrogate District voted for the government’s Internal Market Bill last night, which will attempt to override the post-Brexit withdrawal agreement.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, and Nigel Adams, Selby and Ainsty MP, voted in line with the government despite concerned letters from their constituents this past week.

However, Julian Smith, Skipton and Ripon MP, was among the MPs, including Theresa May and Sir Keir Starmer, who either abstained or did not vote.

The legislation sparked controversy after Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, said it would break international law in a “specific and limited way”. Mr Smith is the former Northern Ireland secretary, in office from July 2019 to February this year.

The bill passed the House of Commons on its first hurdle last night by 77 votes, 340 MPs voted for the legislation while 263 voted against.

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It will now go to committee stage and face further votes in the Commons before it goes to the House of Lords.

The Stray Ferret had previously contacted all three MPs for their views on the matter, but received no response.

Five former Prime Ministers have spoken out against the plan, including David Cameron, Theresa May and Gordon Brown.

What is the Internal Market Bill?

After the UK left the EU on January 31 it signed a withdrawal agreement.

The agreement included a Northern Ireland Protocol, which was designed to prevent a hard border returning to the island of Ireland.

The Internal Market Bill attempts to override parts of the agreement and would allow the UK to modify or reinterpret state aid rules if the two sides do not strike a future trade deal.