Government forced to reveal Brexit legal advice after Commons defeat
3 min read
Ministers will be forced to publish secret legal advice on Brexit after Labour teamed up with Conservative Brexiteers and the Democratic Unionist Party to inflict a major Commons defeat.
Labour had demanded to see Attorney General Geoffrey Cox's advice on any Brexit deal Theresa May strikes before MPs are asked to vote on it.
The information is normally kept under wraps, but Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer argued that MPs should be given sight of it for the "exceptional" circumstances of leaving the EU.
Despite a last-ditch effort by Theresa May's de facto deputy David Lidington to stave off defeat, Conservative MPs were ordered to abstain - meaning the binding opposition motion was approved without Labour having to force a vote.
In a further blow, Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party - who Mrs May relies on for her Commons majority - confirmed it would have backed the Labour bid if the opposition had forced a vote.
The unionist party has been pushing to see the advice from the Government's top lawyer on the Prime Minister's latest bid to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland.
DUP Brexit spokesperson Sammy Wilson said he was "sympathetic" to Government arguments that legal advice to ministers should not be published "willy nilly".
But he added: "No one has compromised the government's position more than the Government itself in these negotiations.
"They willingly accepted the EU agenda and timetable and sequencing for the negotiations. They uncritically accepted this nonsense of the backstop of Northern Ireland - a problem which doesn't exist and which can be dealt with by the existing trade facilitation measures which are in place."
The move came after the European Research Group of Tory Eurosceptics launched its own bid to force the publication of the crucial documents.
Although the Conservative motion did not end up being debated - the Brexiteers announced that they were abstaining on Labour's bid, significantly increasing the chances of a defeat for the Government.
Pro-Remain MP Anna Soubry said she believed the Government had then ordered Tory troops not to vote down the bill because party bosses could not command the numbers to see off the challenge.
She fumed: "If that's the case, who's running this country? This government or the ERG?"
Ex-attorney general and fellow Remainer Dominic Grieve meanwhile warned MPs against "trying to coerce the Government into publishing legal advice", claiming such a move would set a precedent and stifle "good governance".
'FULL, REASONED POSITION'
Earlier in the debate, Mr Lidington had argued that Labour's demands would see "upwards of 5,000" different documents published.
In an effort to see off the challenge, he promised that MPs would be given a full legal analysis of the Prime Minister's Brexit deal - including on the implications of the Northern Irish backstop - before they voted on it.
He said: "We will make available to all members of the House, following the conclusion of negotiations, and ahead of the meaningful vote, a full, reasoned position statement laying out the Government's both political and also legal position on the proposed withdrawal agreement. And that includes any protocols that might be attached to it."
But he stopped short of promising to publish the attorney general's legal advice in full - the central demand of the Labour frontbenches.
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