Theresa May’s government expected to face defeat as Commons debates Labour motion for publication of Brexit Legal Advice
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The British Labour Party has tabled a motion for the Government to publish the Brexit Legal Advice.
The Motion says “That an humble address be presented to Her Majesty, that she will be graciously pleased to give directions that the following papers be laid before parliament: any legal advice in full, including that provided by the attorney general, on the proposed withdrawal agreement on the terms of the UK’s departure from the European Union including the Northern Ireland backstop and framework for a future relationship between the UK and the European Union.”
According to the Guardian, Senior DUP sources say their MPs will vote in support of today’s Labour motion calling for the publication of the legal advice on Brexit including the backstop. The party has previously called for the advice to be made public.
Starmer is reported saying that Labour accepts the convention that in normal circumstances government legal advice should not be published. But he says there are four reasons why that does not apply in this case.
First, this situation is exceptional, he says. He says there is precedent for publishing legal advice in exceptional circumstances. Second, he says this is general legal advice.vThird, he says the way legal privilege applies to advice from government law officers is different from the way it applies to advice from other lawyers. And, fourth, he says the government should not be allowed to show its legal advice selectively to just some MPs.
The European Research Group, the faction representing around 50 hardline Tory Brexiters, has said it will abstain in the vote on the Labour motion about publishing the government’s Brexit legal advice. That means a government defeat seems inevitable.
Earlier the Prime Minister spokesperson said that “The prime minister told cabinet that since they last met negotiations had continued in Brussels and good progress had been made. However, the PM said, there remained a small number of outstanding issues as the UK pushes for the best text which can be negotiated.”
The Financial Times A Brexit deal is “almost within touching distance” and could be concluded within 48 hours, David Lidington, Britain’s de facto deputy prime minister, has declared. Mr Lidington, speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting in Downing Street, said he was “optimistic because we have managed to get things down to a small number of difficult issues outstanding”. “We are not quite there yet,” the Cabinet Office minister told the BBC’s Today programme. Asked if a deal was possible in the next 24 to 48 hours, he said: “Still possible but not at all definite.”
Brussels’ talks chief Michel Barnier yesterday claimed a deal was imminent by declaring that “the parameters are very largely defined”. The Sun reported that it has emerged that the PM refused to accept the deal’s latest draft because it still didn’t give the UK a clear escape from a custom union if the EU started acting in bad faith on talks about a future trade deal.
A senior No10 source said: “There is no point in getting a deal just for the sake of it.
“It must be sellable to Parliament. The PM knows that as much as anyone else.
