Johnson refuses to sign Brexit delay letter
‘This is not from me’ says PM as he sends photocopy of MPs’ request He writes separately to EU leaders asking them to stick to Oct 31 Gambit follows Parliament’s thwarting vote on withdrawal deal
BORIS JOHNSON has told the EU that he is “not asking” for a “deeply corrosive” delay to Brexit, as he ordered a senior diplomat to send an unsigned photocopy of the request drawn up by MPs asking Brussels for an extension.
The Prime Minister phoned European leaders last night to declare that the letter MPs had forced the Government to send to Donald Tusk, president of the EU council, “is Parliament’s letter, not my letter”.
A senior No10 source said he was asking them to “invite Parliament to reconsider”, on the basis that “the best thing for the UK and Europe” is for Brexit to take place on Oct 31.
In a third letter to Mr Tusk, president of the EU Council, Mr Johnson said a delay would be “deeply corrosive”, after MPs scuppered the crunch vote on his deal yesterday in what No10 described as a bid to derail Brexit.
Last night Mr Johnson and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, agreed that there should be no further extension of the UK’s membership, and the Elysee Palace said additional delay “is in the interest of no one”.
But the move sets up a major new confrontation between the Prime Minister and Parliament after MPs insisted that the so-called Benn Act, introduced with the help of rebel Tories last month, required Mr Johnson to sign a two-paragraph letter seeking an extension until Jan 31.
Pro-Remain campaigners are likely to tell Scotland’s supreme civil court tomorrow that the Prime Minister has breached the legislation and a court ruling that he must not “frustrate” the Act. But the source said Government lawyers and Geoffrey Cox, the Attorney General, took the view that “nothing in the Benn Act forces the Prime Minister to change policy”, allowing him to set out his insistence on passing a deal and delivering Brexit on Oct 31. Remainers “will say this is illegal [but] we don’t think it is”, the source said.
Sir Tim Barrow, the UK’s envoy to the EU, simply sent Mr Tusk an unsigned “photocopy” of the letter from the legislation, in time for the deadline of midnight last night under the Act, along with a covering note saying he was sending it “as required” by the law. The letter itself was not signed.
In his own letter, Mr Johnson pledged that he would continue to seek Parliament’s approval. He said further delay would “damage the interests of the UK and our EU partners”.
Downing Street wants EU leaders to reject the delay in order to force MPs to choose this week between approving Mr Johnson’s deal and a no-deal exit.
Mr Johnson’s aides hope EU leaders, including Angela Merkel, will decline to respond to the letter until a summit they are expected to hold as late as Oct 28 – three days before the deadline – leaving MPs with an “enormous gamble” if they reject the deal this week. The move came as:
Mr Johnson successfully convinced 27 of the 28 Brexiteers who refused to back Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement, to support his plan yesterday
Six Labour MPs supported Mr Johnson by voting against an amendment by Sir Oliver Letwin designed to force the Prime Minister to seek the delay, along with five former members of the party who now sit as independents
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Dame Eleanor Laing, a deputy speaker, suggests that John Bercow has “strayed” from the rule of law in decisions he has taken over Brexit, as the Speaker indicated he could scupper Mr Johnson’s plan to put his deal to a vote tomorrow
Hundreds of thousands of supporters of a second referendum demonstrated outside Parliament, where Jacob Rees-Mogg, Andrea Leadsom and Michael Gove were heckled as they left under police escort
The Benn Act had set yesterday as the deadline for Mr Johnson to gain Parliament’s approval for a Brexit deal before he had to send the letter to Mr Tusk seeking an extension to Jan 31.
But an amendment drawn up by Sir Oliver, who lost the Tory whip over his support for the Benn Act, downgraded the status of the vote by stating that the deal would not be formally approved until MPs had voted through the Withdrawal Agreement Implementation Bill, which will formally enact Mr Johnson’s deal.
Sir Oliver, who was joined by Philip Hammond, the ex-chancellor, insisted the amendment was needed as an “insurance policy” in case the legislation was amended by rebels next week and the Conservatives refused to back it – putting the UK on course for a no-deal exit on Oct 31.
The amendment was passed with the help of the DUP’s 10 MPs after the party declared its opposition to Mr Johnson’s deal.
But ministers insist a delay is unnecessary and is simply being sought by MPs who want to overturn the result of the 2016 referendum.
Last night, a senior No10 source said: “The Prime Minister is calling EU leaders and saying that delaying is very bad and there shouldn’t be any delays, and ‘this is Parliament’s letter, not my letter. I’m not asking for a delay. The best thing for the UK and Europe is that Britain leaves on Oct 31. You should invite Parliament to reconsider’.
“We are going to keep going and will force Parliament to take responsibility.” They said that MPs had declined to trigger an election and “therefore the Government has to continue”.
EU leaders would have to approve the request for an extension unanimously. Mr Johnson was urging them to reject a delay on the basis that “if you force Parliament to choose” between the deal and exiting without an agreement, “the deal will sail through”.
“I think there’s a reasonable chance that Macron, Merkel and others say ‘we don’t think a delay should happen’,” the source said. On Friday, Mr Macron said: “I do not think we shall grant any further delay.” Downing Street is hoping Mrs Merkel, the German chancellor, will take a similar approach.
Yesterday, Mr Johnson told MPs:
“I will not negotiate a delay with the EU, and neither does the law compel me to. I will tell our friends and colleagues in the EU exactly what I’ve told everyone in the last 88 days that I’ve served as Prime Minister: that further delay would be bad for this country, bad for the European Union and bad for democracy. So next week the Government will introduce the legislation needed for us to leave the EU with our new deal on Oct 31. And I hope that our EU colleagues and friends will not be attracted as the benches opposite are by delay. I don’t think they’ll be attracted by delay.”
A Government source said Sir Oliver’s amendment had “increased the likelihood” of leaving without an agreement. Ministers have “ramped up” no-deal preparations.
At 10pm last night, Mr Tusk said he had received the extension request. “I will now start consulting EU leaders on how to react,” he tweeted.
Yesterday, Joanna Cherry, a QC and SNP frontbencher, told the Commons Mr Johnson had to sign the letter, according to the legislation and a ruling by the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Mr Bercow even indicated he could sign the letter if Mr Johnson refused.
Last night, Caroline Flint, a Labour rebel, described Sir Oliver’s amendment as a “panic measure to reinsert the three-month delay, for one reason only: to thwart a deal”.