Blair, Brown, Coalition of Remainers Scramble to Stop Johnson No Deal Brexit

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 13: Former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown attend the
Bradley Page - WPA Pool/Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

A coalition of peers and MPs from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party (SNP), and Plaid Cymru are seeking a judicial review to stop a full, clean Brexit.

In the next seven days, the group will be seeking a “declaration” stipulating that the likely next prime minister, Boris Johnson, cannot advise the Queen to prorogue (suspend) parliament ahead of the October 31st Brexit deadline, according to The Herald.

Mr Johnson is said to be considering suspending parliament to stop Remainers forcing a third Brexit delay, after the former Vote Leave campaigner pledged to take the UK out of the EU as scheduled on Halloween “with or without a deal”.

The group are taking their case to the Scottish Court of Session, which unlike courts in England, sits in August.

The crowdfunded legal campaign is supported by anti-Brexit QC Jolyon Maugham, who secured the ruling from the European Court of Justice that Article 50 can be revoked unilaterally — meaning Brexit could be reversed by a potential future Labour government if a General Election is held before the UK leaves the EU.

Backing the move is newly-elected leader of the pro-EU Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson, who said: “Liberal Democrats will do everything we possibly can to stop the next Tory Prime Minister from crashing the UK out of the EU. That is why I am adding my name as a petitioner to this important case.”

A number of anti-Brexit plots have been afoot in the past two weeks when it became apparent that the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race, Mr Johnson, was not backing down from his commitment to Brexiting by the deadline. Last week, the Remainer-dominated House of Commons voted to back an amendment that would stop the full suspension of parliament.

On Monday, fervent Remainer and former Labour prime minister Tony Blair again called for a second referendum, telling the BBC: “The argument for having another referendum is overwhelming in circumstances that we will go out with No Deal.

“I think there is a deep recognition that this thing has turned out to be a massive distraction, far more difficult than we thought.”

While his successor, Gordon Brown, evoked Project Fear in an article The Guardian on Sunday, where he claimed that children would die without medicine if the UK leaves the Customs Union, writing: “MPs can and should still prevent no deal.”

Writing in The Telegraph on Monday, Mr Johnson said that the UK must embrace the American 1960s “can-do spirit” that put a man on the moon.

“It is time this country recovered some of its can-do spirit,” he said, adding: “We can come out of the EU on October 31, and yes, we certainly have the technology to do so. What we need now is the will and the drive.”

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.