Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to deliver Brexit by the end of October this year with or without a deal. The EU has refused to budge on Mr Johnson’s demands of changes to the backstop mechanism within the withdrawal agreement. Some pro-EU MPs have warned the Prime Minister they will do all they can to block Britain’s departure if the UK is on track to leave with no deal.
But, speaking to Express.co.uk, Dr Jack Simson Caird, a Senior Research Fellow in Parliaments and the Rule of Law, has claimed Mr Johnson is still “in the driving seat” and if he wants to deliver a no deal exit, “he can”.
He said: “I think in our constitutional situation, even though the Prime Minister has a non-existent or very slim majority, he is still in the driving seat.
“He has the power as the Prime Minister, has the prerogative power to conduct foreign relations.
“Parliament has already legislated to trigger Article 50 and to prepare the statute book by passing the European Union Withdrawal Act 2018.
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“I think that lays the foundations for him to say, if he wants a no deal, then he can.
“Without a really really radical alternative, looking like it might happen, I think he is in a really strong position.”
The remarks came prior to threats from pro-EU Tory MP Dominic Grieve that there were “a number of things which the House of Commons can do, including bringing down the Government via a vote of no-confidence and setting up a new government in its place.”
Rebels have hinted under the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act if the Government lost a vote of confidence MPs could seek to put a new government of national unity in its place – before going to the EU to ask for a further Brexit extension.
Mr Grieve later warned the Queen could step in to “sack” Mr Johnson if he refused to quit after losing a potential vote of no-confidence.
He told Channel 4 News on Tuesday evening: “The idea that he’ll just sit back and say ‘I won’t co-operate, I won’t do anything and I’m not going to resign’ is fanciful.
“He would have to resign and if he didn’t resign and there was an alternative Government presented which had the support of the House of Commons, in an extreme case the Queen would have to sack him.”
The former Attorney General also attacked the Prime Minister’s special adviser, hitting out at Dominic Cumming’s “characteristic arrogance with ignorance”.
The Prime Minister’s special adviser, Dominic Cummins, had reportedly suggested Mr Johnson would not necessarily have to resign, even if he lost a vote of no-confidence, or could even delay the timing of a potential general election until after Britain has left the EU.
Mr Cummings responded to the attack from Mr Grieve by saying: “I don’t think I am arrogant. I don’t know very much about very much. Mr Grieve, will see what he is right about.”
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Commenting on how Mr Johnson would deal with a vote of no-confidence, one senior Number 10 official was quoted in the Financial Times as saying: “We can’t stop them forcing an election but we control the timetable so we will force the date after October 31.
“If there must be a general election, then it will be days after October 31.”
On Wednesday, shadow chancellor John McDonnell warned that if Mr Johnson was defeated in a vote of confidence, Labour would insist on Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister.
“I don’t want to drag the Queen into this but I would be sending Jeremy Corbyn in a cab to Buckingham Palace to say we’re taking over,” he told an event at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
But, speaking to reporters during a visit to a science centre in Abingdon, Mr Johnson said: “We are going to leave the European Union on October 31 which is what the people of this country voted for, it’s what MPs voted for, and that’s what I think parliamentarians of this country should get on and do.
“I think that MPs should get on and deliver on what they have promised over and over and over again to the people of this country, they will deliver on the mandate of 2016 and leave the EU on October 31.”
