Will it be enough to get Brexit over the line? Legally nothing’s changed, says the Attorney General
Extended EU talks resulted in a croaky-voiced prime minister Theresa May pleading with MPs – like Alfred Steptoe – to back her Brexit deal this afternoon, in which she claimed she had “secured legal changes,” stressing: ” Now is the time to come together to back this improved Brexit deal.”
She urged MPs to back her “improved deal” or risk “no Brexit at all”.
All that appeared missing from her diatribe to force her deal over the line, was a husky call out for help from the TV rag and bone man’s son “Harold…Harold…?” after her legal assurance fell flat through the equally husky tones of Attorney General Geoffrey Cox. Because however much he wanted to give the house the news Brexiteers and softening remainers wanted to hear, he couldn’t do it. Once a lawyer always a lawyer and the law comes first, Brexit second.
MPs will vote tonight whether or not to back her deal.
The Attorney General Geoffrey Cox MP set out his legal opinion in the House of Commons earlier today on the latest revised deal negotiated with the EU regarding the withdrawal agreement – and Geoff’s view on the legal risk is the same as four months ago.
He wrote to the prime minister this morning beginning with good news, stating the new provisions within the deal “reduce the risk” of the UK being “indefinitely and involuntarily” held in the Irish backstop, but ended by saying “the legal risk remains unchanged” that the UK would have no legal means of exiting without EU agreement.
“Let me make it clear. The legal risk as I set it out in my letter of the 13th of November remains unchanged,” he later told MPs.
Tory Brexiteers said they are unsure the changes are enough to win their backing.
