ABOVE THE LAW
Johnson will do all he can to get round no-deal ban
BORIS Johnson is prepared to test the law “to the limit” to defy Parliament on a no-deal Brexit, his Foreign Secretary has said.
Dominic Raab warned that the Prime Minister would do all he could to get round legislation forcing him to seek a delay to the Brexit deadline.
Raab added: “We will adhere to the law but this is such a bad piece of legislation – we will also want to test to the limit what it does actually lawfully require.”
Stalling the law against a no-deal Brexit in the courts would allow the Government to run down the clock to the October 31 deadline, when leaving the EU without a deal would be the default position.
Shadow attorney general and Labour peer Baroness Chakrabarti said the PM was behaving like “every tinpot dictator on the planet” if he thought he could defy the law.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell told the BBC: “I think we’re in an extremely serious constitutional position. We’ve got a Prime Minister who has said he would not abide by the law.
“We’re in a situation where no one can trust while he’s in place what could happen.”
Johnson’s Justice Secretary Robert Buckland has publicly warned the PM against resisting the new law.
Buckland made it clear he was not on the verge of quitting the Cabinet over the issue, but said he had stressed “the importance of the rule of law” with Johnson.
He added: “I fully support the Prime Minister and will continue to serve in his Cabinet.”
Johnson faces another defeat in the Commons today as he again calls for a snap general election.
And with the Prime Minister’s authority imploding, Downing Street was braced for further Cabinet resignations after Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd quit on Saturday night.
She said Johnson was not serious about getting a Brexit deal from Brussels and expressed her dismay over the sacking of 21 Tory colleagues last week for backing the Bill to stop a no-deal Brexit.
Rudd accused the PM of “an assault on decency and democracy” and “an act of political vandalism”.
She added: “I no longer believe leaving with a deal is the Government’s main objective.”
Rudd said preparing for a no-deal Brexit was taking up “80 to 90 per cent of Government time”.
Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary
Keir Starmer claimed Rudd’s revelations were “further proof ” that Johnson has no intention of securing a Brexit deal.
Labour will join the SNP and the Lib Dems today to deny Johnson the chance to dissolve the Commons under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act.
The Government needs a two-thirds majority to force an election but the opposition want to rule one out until the no-deal deadline has passed on October 31.
The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said: “We know from Amber Rudd that the UK Government has not made a meaningful offer to the EU. It is a fantasy.
“Boris Johnson is simply running down the clock towards no deal.”
While the SNP is confidently preparing for snap election, volatile UK-wide polling has the Tories anything from 14 points to just three points ahead of Labour.
The Tories fear the wildcard effect of fighting a pre-Brexit election in which Nigel Farage’s party could rob them of votes.
Chancellor Sajid Javid yesterday refused to rule out an election pact with the Brexit Party after Nigel Farage said it could deliver the Tories a 100-seat majority.