Ministers might have broken the rules over legal advice on Brexit
Commons Speaker John Bercow has told MPs he believes there is an “arguable case that a contempt has been committed” by the Government over Brexit legal advice.
Mr Bercow made the comments in response to demands from Labour, the DUP and four other opposition parties, which had complained that the summary legal advice released yesterday did not comply with a Commons resolution agreed on November 13.
He said: “The letter that I received from the members mentioned at the start of this statement asks me to give precedence to a motion relating to privilege in relation to the failure of ministers to comply with the terms of the resolution of the House of the 13 November.
“I have considered the matter carefully and I am satisfied that there is an arguable case that a contempt has been committed.
“I’m therefore giving precedence for a motion to be tabled tonight before the House rises and to be taken as first business tomorrow.”
Mr Bercow said it was “entirely for the House to decide on that motion”.
A debate and vote will take place as soon as the Commons sits today.
MPs passed a motion two weeks ago that ordered ministers to provide “any legal advice in full” on Theresa May’s deal.
At the time, Commons Speaker John Bercow confirmed the motion should take effect adding: “It is not just an expression of opinion”.
But the government insist they will only publish a “summary” of the legal advice.
Meanwhile, an Irish border backstop installed in the case of a no-deal Brexit would continue to apply “unless and until it is superseded” by a new agreement, Government legal advice says.
The position statement released yesterday 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.
It came after Theresa May had told Tory MPs to “hold their nerve” and back her Brexit deal, insisting she would still have a job in two weeks’ time as she faces a crunch December 11 Commons vote on her EU Withdrawal Agreement.
The dense legalese paper states that the backstop “protocol”, which would see the whole of the UK enter into a customs arrangement with the EU, would come into effect in December 2020 “in the event that a subsequent
agreement is not in place by then, and the protocol will continue to apply unless and until it is superseded, in whole in or part, by a subsequent agreement establishing alternative arrangements”.
However, it goes on to say that “if it does start to apply then it should do so only temporarily”.
The document was released ahead of statements to MPs due to be made by the Prime Minister and the Government’s chief legal officer, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, yesterday afternoon.
Earlier Mrs May’s chief Brexit adviser told MPs that the Northern Ireland border backstop was a “slightly uncomfortable necessity” for both the UK and the European Union.
The fallback plan agreed with Brussels was “not the future relationship that either the UK or the EU wants to have with one another”, Olly Robbins told the Exiting the European Union Committee.
He said: “It is an uncomfortable position for both sides and the reality ... is that there is not a withdrawal agreement without a backstop.
“That reflects also, as I’ve said to this committee before, ministers’ commitments to Northern Ireland and to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, rather than being something imposed upon us. So, it is a necessity and a slightly uncomfortable necessity for both sides.”