https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2019/09/david-gauke-we-would-not-leave-the-eu-on-october-31st-and-johnson-will-be-blamed.html
The overwhelming likelihood is that, by October 19th, the House of Commons will have neither voted to support a deal nor voted in favour of a No Deal Brexit. The EU Withdrawal (No 2) Act 2019 (or the Benn Act) is very clear as to what happens next. The Prime Minister must seek an extension to Article 50.
The overwhelming likelihood is that, by October 19th, the House of Commons will have neither voted to support a deal nor voted in favour of a No Deal Brexit. The EU Withdrawal (No 2) Act 2019 (or the Benn Act) is very clear as to what happens next. The Prime Minister must seek an extension to Article 50.
He does not like this state of affairs. He would prefer to leave without a deal. But what the Prime Minister would like to do is not the point. He has a statutory duty to seek an extension.
In the course of this week, Ministers will be repeatedly asked what will happen. Will the Government abide by the law? Yes, of course. Will the Government seek an extension? No.
The answers to these questions are mutually incompatible. The Government will seek to get away with this contradiction by hinting that there is a cunning plan, a secret flaw that only it knows about, something that only a strategic genius – who could turn his mind to legal matters as and when necessary – would be able to identify. Pin your hopes on that if you like, but my money would be on the UK being members of the EU on November 1st.
And then what happens? I know that there will be a huge amount of abuse and criticism directed at those of us who supported the Benn Act. We will take some consolation from the fact that goods are flowing in and out of the country as per usual, our agricultural and manufacturing industries are not facing crippling new tariffs and that the pound will not have tanked.
But what of the man who said – again and again – and who will continue to say this week – again and again – that we will leave on October 31st ‘come what may’? You might blame Parliament for the fact that the Prime Minister will have broken his promise, but Parliament didn’t force him to make that promise. It was a promise that depended upon factors beyond his control. It was a guarantee that he could not, in truth, guarantee.
Not for the first time in the Brexit process, a large part of the public will feel let down. And, I accept, that they will have been let down.