Labour has warned Boris Johnson it is ready to take action through the courts if he tries to push through a No Deal Brexit against the will of Parliament.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said the party would do ‘whatever it takes’ to prevent the UK leaving the EU at the end of the month without an agreement.
Addressing the Co-operative Party conference in Glasgow, Sir Keir said if the Prime Minister was unable to secure a deal at next week’s crucial EU summit, he must comply with the so-called Benn Act and seek a further delay.
‘If he can’t – or I should say won’t – get a deal we will take whatever steps are necessary to prevent our country crashing out of the EU without a deal,’ he said.
‘If No Deal is secured by this time next week, Boris Johnson must seek and accept an extension. That’s the law. No ifs, no buts.
‘And if he doesn’t, we’ll enforce the law – in the courts and in Parliament. Whatever it takes, we will prevent a no-deal Brexit.’
It comes as Brussels gave the green light for a weekend of intense negotiations aimed at hammering out an agreement ahead of a crunch summit on Thursday.
Sir Keir poured scorn on suggestions Mr Johnson could get round the law by accompanying a request for an extension with a second letter to the EU saying he did not really want one.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) has said Labour will do ‘whatever it takes’ to prevent no-deal
Sir Keir poured scorn on suggestions Mr Johnson (pictured at a school in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, yesterday) could get round the law by accompanying a request for an extension with a second letter to the EU saying he did not really want one
‘That’s the equivalent of attaching a post-it note to divorce papers saying ‘Only kidding’. It’s a ridiculous idea.’
With EU and UK officials continuing to negotiate over the weekend, Sir Keir said if the Prime Minister did succeed in getting an agreement, Labour would demand it was put to the public in a fresh referendum.
‘If Boris Johnson does manage to negotiate a deal then we will insist that it is put back to the people in a confirmatory vote,’ he said.
With Parliament set to sit in a special emergency Saturday session at the end of the week, Sir Keir said it appeared any agreement Mr Johnson was able to negotiate would be ‘even worse’ than Theresa May’s rejected deal.
‘No level playing field protections. No customs union. A green light to deregulate. That kind of deal can never be one Labour supports,’ he said.
Brexiteer MP John Redwood this morning took to the airwaves to suggest two countries the Prime Minister should mirror in his Brexit trade agreement.
It comes as Brexiteer MP John Redwood (pictured) took to the airwaves this morning to suggest two countries the Prime Minister should mirror in his Brexit trade agreement
Today marks the starting gun for fresh, ‘intensive’ negotiations between the EU and Mr Johnson’s team, following EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier’s declaration last night that a deal was possible within days.
It gave the green light for a weekend of intense negotiations aimed at hammering out an agreement ahead of a crunch summit on Thursday.
Mr Redwood suggested Mr Johnson should look for a free trade agreement.
During a discussion on how to unlock the Brexit ‘impasse’, he told the BBC’s Today Programme: ‘I think the border issue is greatly exaggerated because it’s within the interests of the EU and the Republic of Ireland to exaggerate it.
‘It’s mainly about what kind of barriers the EU would want to impose on their side because we don’t really need barriers on our side, other than the ones we’ve already got. But the way to unlock it is to have a free trade agreement.
‘But why can’t the EU see it and why can’t they understand if they can do a free trade agreement to Japan and Canada they could surely give one to their near neighbours who, under treaty, they have to have a good relationship with us.’
On the current Brexit plan, Mr Redwood added: ‘I think it’s extremely difficult moving between the option of splitting Northern Ireland off or all of us ending up in the customs union and single market.
‘I look forward to seeing what they might be able to find out that is better.’
The Prime Minister welcomed the shift by Brussels, but warned that ‘there’s a way to go’ and that it is not yet a ‘done deal’.
‘It’s important now that our negotiators on both sides get into proper talks about how to sort this thing out,’ he added.
Diplomats in Brussels said Mr Johnson had secured the breakthrough by agreeing to a customs border in the Irish Sea.
Speaking on a visit to a school yesterday afternoon, Mr Johnson said the new blueprint – which has been kept determinedly under wraps – would mean the ‘whole of the UK takes full advantage of Brexit’.
But he dodged when pressed on whether Northern Ireland will definitely leave the EU’s customs union, saying people should simply ‘look at what I have said before and draw their own conclusions’.
Boris Johnson was visiting a school in Beaconsfield yesterday (pictured) as the drama unfolded
Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster, whose support will be key to getting a deal through Parliament, fired a warning shot at the Prime Minister last night when she insisted she would block anything that ‘traps Northern Ireland in the European Union, whether single market or customs union, as the rest of the UK leaves’.
But she also said she was willing to be ‘flexible’ and indicated she could support proposals that see Northern Ireland treated differently to the rest of the UK if they have the backing of people in the province.
Hardline Eurosceptic Tory MPs provided further optimism there might be the numbers to get an agreement through the Commons when they said they were not ruling out supporting the suggested changes.
British officials will spend today and tomorrow locked in talks with their EU counterparts at the European Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters in Brussels.