Brexit news latest: Campaigners launch bid to ban Boris Johnson from putting deal before MPs

Anti-Brexit campaigners are trying to stop Boris Johnson put a Brexit deal to MPs (Picture: PA)

Anti-Brexit campaigners are planning to lodge a legal action to ban the Government from putting its proposed Withdrawal Agreement before Parliament as Boris Johnson closes in on a deal.

Jo Maugham QC said he believes the agreement, due to be debated in a special parliamentary sitting on Saturday, contravenes legislation.

He said it would be "unlawful for Her Majesty's Government to enter into arrangements under which Northern Ireland forms part of a separate customs territory to Great Britain".

Reports suggest a border in the Irish Sea with differing customs arrangements for Northern Ireland than elsewhere in the UK could form part of a withdrawal agreement.

Mr Maugham plans to lodge a petition at Scotland's highest civil court, the Court of Session, on Thursday and expects it to be heard on Friday.

I intend to lodge an immediate petition for an injunction in the Court of Session preventing the Government from placing the Withdrawal Agreement before Parliament for approval. We expect that petition to be lodged tomorrow and to be heard on Friday.

— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham)

October 16, 2019

He claimed if the court finds the proposed agreement is unlawful the Government will be obliged to request an extension to Brexit negotiations, under the terms of the Benn Act, which stipulates the Prime Minister must ask the EU for a delay if Parliament does not agree a deal by Saturday.

Mr Maugham tweeted: "I intend to lodge an immediate petition for an injunction in the Court of Session preventing the Government from placing the Withdrawal Agreement before Parliament for approval.

Jo Maugham QC said he intends to lodge a legal action in a bid to stop the Goverment putting its deal before Parliament. (PA)

"We expect that petition to be lodged tomorrow and to be heard on Friday.

"We believe the Government's proposed Withdrawal Agreement is contrary to section 55 of the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018."

That part of the act states: "It shall be unlawful for Her Majesty's Government to enter into arrangements under which Northern Ireland forms part of a separate customs territory to Great Britain."

Mr Maugham added: "We do not understand how the Government might have come to negotiate a Withdrawal Agreement in terms that breach amendments tabled by its own European Research Group.

"Unless and until Section 55 is repealed by the UK Parliament it is simply not open, as a matter of law, for the United Kingdom to enter into such an agreement.

"If the proposed Withdrawal Agreement is unlawful, the Government will be obliged to request an extension as mandated by the Benn Act and in accordance with undertakings given to the Court of Session in Vince, Maugham, Cherry v Boris Johnson."