BORIS Johnson's right-hand man says there are loopholes in the law that are designed to put prevent a "disastrous" no deal Brexit.
Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister's senior adviser says that lawyers are arguing over the Benn Act, which demands that the government asks the EU for an extension to the Brexit deadline.
It comes as former Prime Minister John Major launched an attack on Boris Johnson - accusing him of having plans to exploit a loophole to bypass the law which forces the government to go for an extension to the October 31 deadline if there is no exit deal.
Mr Major said the government will use a piece of legal "chicanery" to by pass the bill, using the secretive body of the Privy Council to get around the law.
READ MORE: John Bercow promises "creativity" to stop forced no-deal Brexit
Mr Cummings said last night:"There are obviously loopholes here, because Remain lawyers are all babbling away on Twitter about the loopholes, so they say themselves that there are loopholes."
Asked by Sky News if the government would obey the law, he said: "All governments obey the law, or they try to.
He said he and the prime minister are "enjoying" the pressure of Brexit negotiations.
He said: "We are not under pressure, the referendum was pressure. The referendum was difficult. This is a walk in the park compared to the referendum.
"We are enjoying this, we are going to leave and we are going to win."
The PM's effective chief of staff, speaking for the first time since Boris Johnson's suspension of Parliament was ruled "unlawful" by the Supreme Court, also said it was "not surprising some people are angry" about how MPs are dealing with Brexit.
READ MORE: SNP HQ accused of Boris-like gagging of democracy
He added: "A lot of people in Parliament are more out of touch with the country now, than they were in summer 2016."
Mr Major said fears the Government will seek to bypass Statute Law, by passing an Order of Council to suspend the Benn Act - controversially referred to as the Surrender Act by Boris Johnson -until after October 31.
“It is important to note that an Order of Council can be passed by Privy Councillors – that is Government Ministers – without involving The Queen," he said.
“I should warn the Prime Minister that – if this route is taken – it will be in flagrant defiance of Parliament and utterly disrespectful to the Supreme Court.
“It would be a piece of political chicanery that no-one should ever forgive or forget.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel