Church leaders from the four nations of the UK have warned that the Internal Market Bill risks creating a "disastrous precedent" if it is passed in its current form. 

The warning comes from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Archbishop of Armagh and the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church in a rare joint intervention published in the Financial Times ahead of the second reading of the Internal Market Bill in the House of Lords this week. 

The Bill sets out the rules for trade between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after the Brexit transition period ends in January.

The details of the Bill have stoked controversy after Northern Ireland Secretary and former Brexit legal adviser Brandon Lewis said last month that the Bill allows the Government to break international law in a "very specific and limited way".

The four Anglican primates this would have "enormous moral, as well as political and legal, consequences" and compromise the union and the Good Friday Agreement.

"We believe this would create a disastrous precedent. It is particularly disturbing for all of us who feel a sense of duty and responsibility to the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement — that international treaty on which peace and stability within and between the UK and Ireland depends," they said.

They continue: "If carefully negotiated terms are not honoured and laws can be 'legally' broken, on what foundations does our democracy stand?

"We urge lawmakers to consider this bill in the light of values and principles we would wish to characterise relationships across these islands long after the transition period."