No-deal Brexit delay bill to become law as Boris Johnson heads to Dublin
Opposition parties will plot their next move ahead of the PM pushing again for an election and suspending parliament for a month.
Monday 9 September 2019 08:57, UK
A law forcing Boris Johnson to try to avoid a no-deal Brexit is coming into force today, as some MPs consider trying to impeach him.
The bill, which led to the sacking of more than 20 Conservative MPs who rebelled against the government, is expected to receive Royal Assent from the Queen later today.
Leo Varadkar will also welcome Mr Johnson to Dublin this morning, with Ireland's prime minister cautioning it will not be a "high-stakes meeting" because he does not anticipate a breakthrough in talks.
Back home, the fallout could continue after Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd quit the cabinet and the Conservatives.
Opposition parties will likely discuss how to force Mr Johnson to obey the legislation to avoid no-deal on 31 October, after he said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than comply with it.
But according to The Daily Telegraph, the prime minister is preparing measures to legally stop any Brexit extension.
The newspaper reported that Mr Johnson's advisers held a meeting on Sunday on how to counter parliament's attempts to enforce a three-month Brexit extension if no new deal is agreed.
Plaid Cymru wants to use cross-party talks to float the idea of impeaching Mr Johnson through an arcane parliamentary mechanism which was last successfully used in the 1800s.
The party unearthed an article from Mr Johnson in 2004, where he argued in favour of Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price's suggestion that Tony Blair be impeached.
At the time, Mr Johnson wrote in the Daily Telegraph: "He [Tony Blair] treated parliament and the public with contempt, and that is why he deserves to be impeached: that is, to be formally held to account, in the way that Adam Price suggests.
"It does not mean that he would be forced to resign: only that he would have to explain himself, as Palmerston had to explain himself when he was impeached in 1848."
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Monday will also see the prime minister push for a second time for an early general election.
Mr Johnson tried unsuccessfully last week when the anti-no-deal legislation was rushed through both houses of parliament in three days, saying it had wrecked the UK's negotiating position.
He will need two-thirds of MPs' support - 434 in total - but opposition parties have already said they will vote against it again.
They want EU27 leaders to agree to delay Brexit until 31 October to January 2020 before backing an early election.
Monday could also be MPs' last day in Westminster for a while, as the government plans to suspend parliament on an as-yet-unknown day this week until 14 October.
Mr Johnson's trip to Ireland has already been overshadowed by comments from Mr Varadkar, who said on Sunday that claims Brexit negotiations are taking place was a "very optimistic assessment".
He told reporters: "I don't think it would be shared by the other 27 member governments.
"I don't expect any big breakthroughs, but I do think it's an opportunity for us to establish a relationship."
In her resignation letter, Ms Rudd attacked the "short-sighted culling" of her parliamentary colleagues - and described their sacking as an act of "political vandalism".
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday that MPs taking control of the parliamentary agenda was "the real vandalism to democracy that's going on".
Mr Raab suggested the government would "test to the limit" the law to delay no-deal and check "very carefully what it does and doesn't require".
He added that the government would not break the law.