Legal chief admits custom union fears
ATTORNEY General Geoffrey Cox last night conceded that Britain could become indefinitely trapped in EU customs ties as a result of measures in Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
Amid heated Commons exchanges, the Government’s chief legal adviser confirmed the UK could not leave so-called Northern Irish “backstop” clause without Brussels’ permission.
But he insisted it was not in the interest of the EU for the backstop to go on indefinitely. MPs should accept the backstop was a “calculated risk” worth taking in order to secure a Brexit deal, he said.
Mr Cox set out details of the legal advice to the Prime Minister on her proposed Brexit before MPs yesterday. He spoke after ministers defied calls for full disclosure of the legal position by only publishing a 43-page synopsis of the advice.
Defending the decision not to publish in full, Mr Cox told MPs: “There is nothing to see here.”
Explaining the backstop, he said: “Let me make no bones about the Northern Ireland protocol, it will subsist, we are indefinitely committed to it if it came into force.
“There is no point in my trying any more than the Government trying to disguise that fact. The truth however is what is the political imperarule tive of either entering it or not entering it and that is a calculated equation of risk.”
The Government document also said Britain faced paying extra money to the European Union if the implementation period after the UK leaves in March has to be extended.
The 43-page Legal Position On The Withdrawal Agreement was published after the Government lost a Parliamentary vote calling for the full legal advice to be released.
Senior MPs from six parties wrote to Commons Speaker John Bercow asking him to begin contempt proceedings against the Government over the refusal to publish the full legal advice.
The letter was signed by shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, SNP Europe spokesman Stephen Gethins, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake, DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds, Plaid Cymru’s Hywel Williams and Green MP Caroline Lucas.
The Speaker last night agreed to give MPs a chance to table a motion of contempt against the Government. If passed in a vote, it could force ministers to release the full legal advice.