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Bercow warns PM not to defy law on no-deal Brexit John Bercow: I’ll stop Boris Johnson breaking the law on Brexit
(32 minutes later)
Boris Johnson must obey the law and seek an extension to article 50 if parliament cannot come to any agreement about Brexit, the outgoing Commons Speaker has urged. John Bercow has threatened Boris Johnson that he will be prepared to rip up the parliamentary rulebook to stop any illegal attempt by the prime minister to take the UK out of the EU without a deal on 31 October.
Addressing an audience of lawyers, John Bercow suggested the political chaos generated in the aftermath of the EU referendum meant the UK should move towards having a codified constitution. In a direct warning to No 10, the Speaker of the House of Commons said he is prepared to allow “additional procedural creativity” if necessary to allow parliament to block Johnson from ignoring the law.
Defying the Benn/Letwin act preventing a no-deal would be breaching the rule of law, he said, in a direct challenge to government threats to ignore the legislation. “If we come close to [Johnson ignoring the law], I would imagine parliament would want to cut off that possibility … Neither the limitations of the existing rulebook or ticking of the clock will stop it doing so,” he said, delivering the annual Bingham lecture in London. “If I have been remotely ambiguous so far, let me make myself crystal clear. The only form of Brexit that we have, whenever that might be, will be a Brexit that the House of Commons has explicitly endorsed.”
Anti-Brexiters file new legal challenge to force article 50 extension Bercow insists Johnson must obey law and ask for Brexit extension – live
“You should no more refuse to request an extension of article 50 than you could possibly excuse robbing a bank on the basis that money stolen would be donated to a charitable cause,” Bercow said.“The only form of Brexit which we will have, whatever that may be, will be a Brexit that the House of Commons has explicitly endorsed.” He also proposed a written constitution to stop “executive malpractice or fiat”, which could potentially have avoided the constitutional crisis that the UK has found itself in over Brexit.
Referring to the Article 50 Extension Act, the Speaker said: “Not obeying the law is a non-starter. Surely in 2019 in modern Britain in a parliamentary democracy, our parliamentarians, legislators, cannot ... be conducting a debate as to whether adherence to the law is required.”Bercow’s speech was delivered in Middle Temple, central London, standing beneath its vast Elizabethan hammebeam roof and a portrait of Charles I, the historical personification of abusive executive authority. Bercow’s dramatic intervention will be one of his last as Speaker, as he has announced that he will stand down at the end of October just two weeks after parliament is due to return from its current state of suspension.
His lecture, entitled Process of Discovery: What Brexit has taught us (so far) about Parliament, Politics and the UK Constitution, was organised by the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law. The Speaker welcomed the fact that the Commons has become increasingly assertive of its own powers in the past decade and more capable of subjecting the government to active scrutiny. Johnson faced yet another difficult day on Thursday as he was forced to deny having misled the Queen over his reasons for proroguing parliament, which was judged unlawful this week by a Scottish court. The full ruling of three appeal court judges was published on Thursday, in which they agreed unanimously it was to prevent proper parliamentary scrutiny of his Brexit strategy, and for no other reason.
On constitutional reform, Bercow said the “Brexit maelstrom” had exposed weaknesses in the country’s political arrangements.“I have been a sceptic in the past about the desirability of a written constitution for the UK,” he revealed but added: “I have come to the conclusion that it’s worth establishing a royal commission or a Speaker’s conference to explore [the options].”It should aim to ensure, he said, that the authority of the House of Commons is “never distorted by executive malpractices or fiat … We must consider whether a written constitution is what we need”. Lord Carloway, the Lord President, said prorogation was sought “in a clandestine manner” during a time when Downing Street knew that 75 MPs and peers were taking the government to court to block prorogation.
Before Bercow announced his imminent resignation, Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, announced that the Conservative party would break with tradition and field a candidate against him at the next election.Bercow, 56, is the MP for Buckingham and the longest-serving Speaker of the House of Commons since the second world war. Speaking after an event about shipbuilding, Johnson said it was “absolutely not true” that he lied to the monarch in advising her to suspend parliament, insisting it was a decision taken to facilitate a Queen’s Speech in mid-October. The prime minister highlighted a differing judgment by the high court in London and said it was for the supreme court to make a final adjudication next week.
Johnson also sought to play down a row about the role of Scottish judges in ruling prorogation unlawful after one of his ministers, Kwasi Kwarteng, the business minister, claimed “many people” thought judges were biased in relation to Brexit.
With his options narrowing, Johnson appears to be increasing efforts to secure a deal with the EU, possibly by moving more towards a watered-down form of Northern Ireland-only backstop. However, he maintains that a no-deal Brexit on 31 October is still possible and sought to minimise the significance of the Operation Yellowhammer documents published by order of parliament on Wednesday. These set out the threat of food and medicine shortages, travel disruption and public disorder in a worst case no deal scenario.
The prime minister has pledged to abide by the law in general but he has also said he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than ask the EU for another Brexit extension and suggested in a letter to Tory members that he is only bound by the legislation forbidding a no-deal exit on 31 October “in theory”. His top adviser, Dominic Cummings, is said to believe that the law does not make the government bound to secure a delay from the EU, but various options – such as sending a contradictory letter to Brussels – have been dismissed as illegal by experts. Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, has suggested Johnson could be a “Brexit martyr” if he holds out against requesting an extension.
In his speech, Bercow lambasted the idea that Johnson could even consider ignoring legislation passed by MPs, which mandates the prime minister to seek a three-month Brexit delay if no deal is struck by mid-October.
He went on to compare any attempt by Brexit advocates to ignore the law in pursuit of what they believe to be a higher cause to “robbing a bank on the basis that the cash stolen would be donated to a charitable cause immediately afterwards”.
Scottish court ruling: what happens next in prorogation dispute?
“Not obeying the law must surely be a non-starter. Period. Surely. In 2019, in modern Britain, in a parliamentary democracy, we parliamentarians, legislators, cannot in all conscience be conducting a debate as to whether adherence to the law is or is not required,” Bercow said.
“What conceivable moral force do the public’s representatives have in seeking to tackle antisocial behaviour, in seeking to prosecute the fight against knife crime and seeking to argue the state should protect itself against all sorts of nefarious illegality if we are to treat for a moment the proposition it might be in order in the name of some higher cause to disregard … It is astonishing that anyone has even tried to entertain the notion. It would be the most terrible example to set to the rest of society.”
Bercow, who is standing down after 10 years in the Speaker’s chair, said the “Brexit maelstrom” had exposed weaknesses in the country’s political framework.
“I have been a sceptic in the past about the desirability of a written constitution for the UK,” he said. “I have come to the conclusion that it’s worth establishing a royal commission or a Speaker’s conference to explore [the options].”
It should aim to ensure, he said, that the authority of the House of Commons is “never distorted by executive malpractices or fiat ... We must consider whether a written constitution is what we need.”
Three outcomes, Bercow explained, were most likely when parliament returns on 14 October: a new withdrawal agreement supported by parliament, a no-deal backed by a Commons majority, or a request by the government to Brussels for a future temporary extension of the UK’s membership of the EU.
Bercow has become a vilified figure among Brexiters who believe he has been complicit in thwarting efforts to leave the EU.
Addressing his critics, Bercow said he believed he had never bent or broken the rules of the House of Commons.
He condemned those “bigots” who conduct personal attacks on MPs. Portraying MPs such as Dominic Grieve in newspapers as “enemies of the people” is a dangerous development, he said. And using such terms as “Go back” is noxious and repellent, he added.
John BercowJohn Bercow
BrexitBrexit
Commons SpeakerCommons Speaker
House of CommonsHouse of Commons
Constitutional reformConstitutional reform
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