UK PM Johnson sends unsigned letter to EU asking for Brexit delay

London, October 20

Prime Minister Boris Johnson sent an unsigned letter to the European Union requesting a delay to Britain’s exit from the bloc and also said he did not want the extension after his latest Brexit setback in parliament on Saturday.

Johnson had previously said he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than ask for any extension to the October 31 deadline.

But he was compelled, by a law passed last month by opponents, to send a letter to the bloc asking to push back the deadline to January 31 after lawmakers thwarted his attempt to pass his EU divorce deal on Saturday.

A government source said Johnson sent a total of three letters to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council: a photocopy of the text that the law, known as the Benn Act, forced him to write; a cover note from Britain’s EU envoy saying the government was simply complying with that law; and a third letter in which Johnson said he did not want an extension.

“I have made clear since becoming Prime Minister and made clear to parliament again today, my view, and the Government’s position, that a further extension would damage the interests of the UK and our EU partners, and the relationship between us,” Johnson said in the third letter, published on Twitter by the Financial Times’ Brussels correspondent.

Johnson, for whom delivering Brexit is key to his plan to hold an early election, said he was confident that the process of getting the Brexit legislation through Britain’s parliament would be completed before October 31, according to the letter.

Tusk said he had received the request from Johnson.

“I will now start consulting EU leaders on how to react,” he said on Twitter.

French President Emmanuel Macron told Johnson that Paris needed swift clarification on the situation after Saturday’s vote, an official at the French presidency told Reuters.

“He signalled a delay would be in no one’s interest,” the official said.

However, it was unlikely that the EU’s 27 members states would refuse Britain’s delay request.

Johnson plan tipped on head

Johnson had hoped that Saturday would see recalcitrant lawmakers finally back the divorce deal he agreed with EU leaders this week and end three years of political deadlock since the 2016 referendum vote to leave the bloc.

Instead, lawmakers voted 322 to 306 in favour of an amendment that turned Johnson’s planned finale on its head by obliging him to ask the EU for a delay, and increasing the opportunity for opponents to frustrate Brexit.

Johnson has previously promised that he would take the country out of the bloc on Oct. 31, without explaining how he would do this while also complying with the Benn Act.

“I will not negotiate a delay with the EU and neither does the law compel me to do so,” he told parliament after lawmakers backed the amendment on Saturday.

Opposition politicians accused him of believing he was above the law.

“Johnson is a Prime Minister who is now treating Parliament and the Courts with contempt,” John McDonnell, the opposition Labour Party’s finance spokesman said.

“His juvenile refusal to even sign the letter confirms what we always suspected that Johnson with his arrogant sense of entitlement considers he is above the law and above accountability.”

Scotland’s highest court is due to consider on Monday a legal challenge that had sought to force Johnson to comply with the Benn Act. The court said earlier this month that government lawyers had given formal legal statements that he would abide by the Benn Act and it would be a serious matter if he did not.

“Boris Johnson promised #Scottish court he would comply with #BennAct & not seek to frustrate it. Looks like he’s breaking both promises,” Joanna Cherry, a Scottish National Party lawmaker involved in the case said on Twitter.

EU mulls Johnson’s reluctant Brexit delay request   

EU leaders were on Sunday considering a request by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to delay Britain’s departure from the bloc, which he was forced to make after MPs refused to back his Brexit deal.

Johnson has pinned his premiership on getting Britain out of the European Union on October 31, more than three years after the 2016 referendum vote for Brexit.

But the House of Commons on Saturday refused to support a divorce deal he struck with Brussels last week, triggering a law demanding he ask to delay Brexit to avoid the risk of a damaging “no deal” exit.

The Conservative leader duly sent a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk late Saturday asking for the required three-month delay—but did not sign it.

He sent a second letter—signed—warning that “a further extension would damage the interests of the UK and our EU partners”.

A defiant Johnson had earlier told MPs: “I will not negotiate a delay with the EU.” Tusk said he would begin consulting EU leaders “on how to react”—a process one diplomat said could take a few days.

Johnson has already spoken to the leaders of France, Germany and the Netherlands to press his case—and Paris warned Saturday that a Brexit delay was “in nobody’s interest”.

In the meantime, Johnson will bring forward legislation that he hopes would nevertheless allow Brexit on October 31.

MPs voted to withhold approval for his divorce deal unless and until the legislation required to ratify the treaty is passed through parliament.

The government is seeking a new vote on its deal on Monday, although this may fall foul of parliamentary procedure.

If it introduces the treaty implementation bill on Monday, however, MPs could be called to vote as early as Tuesday.

Johnson wrote to Tusk that he was “confident” he could get it through before the of the month.

However, the main opposition Labour Party has condemned the deal as a “sell-out”, while Johnson’s Northern Irish allies are opposed to its arrangements for the province.

Johnson sent the letter to Brussels after a day of high drama in the Commons, which staged its first Saturday sitting in 37 years to debate his Brexit deal.

He urged MPs to end years of uncertainty that has weighed on the economy and divided the nation—but they refused, warning his deal would leave Britain worse off.

“Why won’t they let us leave?” lamented the Brexit-backing Sunday Express newspaper.

The Mail on Sunday led with the headline “The House of Fools”, warning MPs had “subjected us to yet more agonising delay”.

The Brexit date has already been pushed back twice, to the fury of those who wanted to chart their own course and abandon the European project after nearly 50 years.

But there was also jubilation at the vote among tens of thousands of protesters who gathered outside parliament on Saturday to demand a new referendum to reverse Brexit.

“That’s really good, that’s one step away from Brexit,” demonstrator Philip Dobson told AFP.

“Reject Brexit”, “Put It To The People” and “Stop This Madness” read some of the placards at the mass march, where many protesters also waved EU flags.

Johnson took office in July vowing to leave the EU on October 31 come what may.

But MPs fearful of the risks of a “no deal” departure sought to bind his hands, with a law demanding he delay Brexit if he failed to get an agreement approved by October 19.

The amendment passed Saturday is designed specifically to avoid this scenario.

MPs had feared they might pass the Brexit deal but then get bogged down with the laws needed to implement it, risking Britain accidentally crashing out of the EU at the end of the month. AFP/Reuters