New bid to block No Deal funded by legal aid

ANTI-NO DEAL activists have applied for legal aid from the taxpayer in an attempt to sue the Government, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Northern Irish victims’ rights campaigner Raymond McCord last week issued proceedings in the High Court in Belfast seeking to prevent Boris Johnson from suspending Parliament to force a No Deal Brexit.

Mr McCord’s lawyer, Ciaran O’Hare of McIvor Farrell, claims to do so would be unconstitutional and an abuse of power and is seeking a hearing next month. He claims a constitutional change such as Brexit must involve Parliament and cannot be implemented by Ministers alone, but legal experts say the case is unlikely to be successful.

The Government has been warned it would not be able to apply for the costs involved in defending the case if Mr McCord’s legal aid application is approved, as is expected.

Recipients of payments – set by the Legal Aid Agency – include those who are ‘at risk of abuse or serious harm’ or who have been accused of a crime. Claimants must show that they cannot afford legal advice or representation.

A Whitehall source told The Mail on Sunday it was a ‘travesty that the Government may be made to pay for the Government to be sued over Government policy’.

Last night, Mr O’Hare did not respond to requests for comment, but a Government source said it would be powerless to stop any legal aid payments because they are set by an ‘arm’s-length’ body.