If May won’t tell us her legal advice we’ll launch contempt proceedings

Parliament is about to make one of the most important decisions in a generation: whether to vote for or against the proposed Brexit deal. In preparation for that decision, MPs must have access to the fullest possible information about what they are voting on. That’s why it was so important that Labour secured an order from Parliament for MPs to be given access to the Attorney General’s full legal advice to the Cabinet on the final deal.

And yet, following comments by the Prime Minister this past week, the Government looks set to defy that order of the House of Commons.

To treat Parliament with such disrespect is not a good look from ministers who want to persuade MPs to back their deal. So I’m putting them on notice. If the full legal advice is not forthcoming, we will have no alternative but to start proceedings for contempt of Parliament – and we will work with all parties to take this forward.

If ministers stubbornly refuse to obey the order of MPs then they risk triggering a historic constitutional row that puts Parliament in direct conflict with the executive. Although I accept the long-standing convention that Cabinet legal advice should be kept confidential, it is well-established that in exceptional circumstances that convention does not apply. And these are exceptional circumstances.

Over the past two years, a significant amount of time has been spent negotiating the terms of our exit from the EU through the Withdrawal Agreement. However, little time has been spent negotiating what the final deal will look like. We were promised by No10 a “precise future framework”. Instead, we got a vague wish list of options that frankly could have been written two years ago.

The Government’s failure to negotiate a robust agreement for our future relationship with the EU means that the UK will almost certainly have to extend the transition period or go on to the so-called backstop.

Extension of transition will come at a high price when the UK’s bargaining power is at its weakest. It will also prolong the period we are subject to rules over which we have no influence.

Going to the backstop on the other hand will have significant implications – not least on the mechanism by which such an arrangement can be ended. Labour recognises the need to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland in all circumstances. But the full legal implications of this deal clearly need to be known and debated in full.

MPs cannot be expected to support a deal without knowing precisely what they are signing up to. To do so would damage Parliament, democracy and our country’s future. I’m determined not to let it happen.