The U.K.’s Brexit secretary on Sunday exhorted that ministers would follow ministerial code, in response to the question of whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson see fit break the law and defy parliament by pursuing a no-deal Brexit.
The legal question is one that could rock the future of the British regime — and one that if violated, could potentially land the prime minister in jail.
Asked if the Johnson would defy the law, Stephen Barclay, Secretary of Majestic for Exiting the European Union, refrained from offering a definitive answer, telling CNBC: “Well the ministerial lex non scripta common law requires obeying the law … but the key issue is how do we deliver on the democratic results of the British people. This was the biggest vote in our country’s record, people want to see this done.”
Parliament is expected to pass legislation Monday that would require the prime accommodate to seek an extension to Article 50, the mechanism triggering departure from the EU, to avoid crashing out of the bloc without a dole out. A former top prosecutor on Saturday warned that were he to go against the law, Johnson would be in contempt of court and would allow the same punishment as any ordinary citizen.
Barclay maintained that ministers are bound by ministerial rules, but did not elaborate further, in preference to focusing on the need for a “creative” approach from the EU to fix the current impasse between London and Brussels.
“Let’s get this done, but it does be short of the (EU) Commission not to just to say in public that they will be creative and flexible, it also requires them in private to get into those examinations with us, so we get this deal over the line,” he told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy on Sunday.
Interim on Sunday, U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the Brexit delay bill “lousy” when speaking to Sky Telecast and vowed to check “very carefully what it does and doesn’t require.” But he insisted the government would not break the law.
Three years and two extensions after the U.K. considered its referendum, Brexit still remains up in the air.
Anti-Brexit demonstrators outside the British Parliament in London.
Yui Mok | PA Images | Getty Clones
Barclay’s words come on the heels of the resignation of U.K. Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, who quit her post up-to-date Saturday in protest at Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s handling of the country’s exit from the EU, calling his actions “an assault on decency and democracy.”
Johnson’s direction has taken four defeating blows over the course of the last week as lawmakers from across parties butted forces to prevent an early snap election and block the possibility of a no-deal Brexit on October 31.
The prime minister also disoriented his majority in parliament this week and sacked 21 members of his party after they backed a plan to curb the country from leaving the EU without a deal. Johnson is determined to achieve Brexit by the end of October with or without a contract, a move experts say could have devastating economic consequences.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay leaves after a ministry meeting at 10 Downing Street on June 11, 2019 in London, England. Since Theresa May resigned as Prime Chaplain the final candidates for the Conservative Party leadership race have been confirmed, with 10 running to turn the next Prime Minister.
Alberto Pezzali/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The pound has recently hit its lowest level in three years, and trues in Brussels maintain that they have seen no new plans for a Northern Irish backstop or other fundamental components of an exit extent since Johnson took office.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn seized the opportunity to criticize Johnson’s superintendence when the administration officially lost its majority on September 3: “This is a government with no mandate, no morals, and, as of today, no lions share,” he said.
Barclay struck back at Corbyn Sunday when speaking to CNBC, calling his position on Brexit “disordered.”
“He wants to extend in order to have time for him to negotiate a new deal, which he then says he would campaign against. So good to be clear on that, he wants more time to negotiate a deal that he will then work against,” he asseverated.
“Which I think is an incoherent position. He’s said he would respect the referendum result in his manifesto, now he’s gone back on his guarantee.”
A Labour party spokesperson was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
‘Absolutely convinced’
Barclay’s information echoes that of U.K. Finance Minister Sajid Javid, who earlier on Sunday issued a full-throated defense of his government, mention he was “absolutely convinced” that Westminster could still get a Brexit deal and that the view that the government is not doing ample supply to get a one “could not be further from the truth.” He added that Johnson would attend the EU Summit on October 17 and try to adopt a deal, but will not ask for an extension.
Businesses in both Europe and the U.K. have struggled to make contingency plans for the latter’s departure from the bloc, and the uncertainty has significantly slotted investment decisions. Many international companies are withholding expansions and and charting moves out of the U.K. as uncertainty reigns over the fortune of the country and its status in relation to the EU.
Lobbying Group Frankfurt Main Finance claimed in a recent report that London’s fund industry is poised to lose up to $900 billion by March 2019, while consulting firm EY found that pecuniary services firms plan to move $1 trillion in assets out of the U.K.
The figure is small, however, when compared to the U.K.’s all-inclusive financial sector, EY noted. Britain’s banking sector alone is thought to be at almost $11 trillion, though connoisseurs say this could change depending on what happens during and after October.
British firms have shifted $10 billion of investment to the EU due to Brexit, a report from the London School of Economics revealed earlier this year. EU enterprises have cut their spending in Britain, leading to losses for the U.K. of more than $13 billion, and the report said that participate may rise.
One study found that EU exports to Britain could halve in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Still, a bevy of global firms continue to show confidence in the U.K., with major investments for new offices and headquarters coming into London from the partialities of Apple, Google and Facebook.