Boris Johnson will seek an extension to Article 50 if there is no Brexit deal by 19 October, documents read out in court today have revealed. This contradicts the Prime Minister’s assertion that he would rather be ‘dead in a ditch’ than delay Britain leaving to after the current deadline of 31 October. So what’s going on?
The revelation comes in the government’s written case for a hearing on whether the Prime Minister will be in contempt of court if he doesn’t send the letter to the European Union asking for the extension which he is mandated to do by the Benn Act. The document says that ‘he cannot act so as to prevent the letter requesting the specified extension in the Act from being sent.’ Number 10 is refusing to comment, while European Research Group chair Steve Baker has insisted that he has been told by a source that it still doesn’t mean there will be an extension.
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