The British Government yesterday flouted the rule of parliament by refusing to publish the full legal advice given by the UK Attorney General concerning the Brexit deal. In early November a motion was put before the House of Commons, which obliged the government to publish the full advice covering the legally binding withdrawal agreement, (including the Irish backstop plan) before any Brexit deal is put before parliament. The government (in the belief that they would lose the vote) ordered its MPs to abstain – hence the motion was passed without the need for a vote.
Rather than comply however, the government instead sent out the Attorney General to answer a few questions in the house and published a redacted document. The argument they make, is that the advice is confidential.
The House of Parliament will now vote on whether or not the government was in contempt of Parliament by not publishing the full legal text. In order therefore to not be in contempt, all the government has to do is vote against the motion for contempt – and since the government is typically formed by the party with a majority of MPs…
Perhaps the decision to abstain last month was a tactical one – knowing that they would later be able to win a vote against their own contempt?
An interesting perspective, the Speaker could have simply ruled that the Government was in contempt. I wonder why he didn’t?
All part of a cunning plan perhaps?
Probably, even winning the pending contempt vote will illustrate the Government’s actual contempt!
Support for anything in the current parliamentary programme is extremely risky at best.
The likelihood is that Strong & Stable May will prove infinitely fallible over the next week or so, although not actually replaceable.
What a dog’s dinner this has all become…
The contempt motion will go before the House today. I don’t think the Gov’t will win.
The Speaker is to be commended for allowing(some would say encouraging) the contempt procedure despite all the pressure around the ‘confidentiality’ argument put by the AG yesterday. It is likely the outcome will be further embarrassment for the Gov’t.
It is easy to see why the Tories hate the speaker particularly as he continues to hold the ‘executive’ to account. They tried and failed to have him removed last month when the report on Bullying and Intimidation in Westminster was published.