Johnson asks the EU to block Brexit delay

Prime minister asks EU to rule out Article 50 extension. MPs face choice between deal or no deal this month.

Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel, right, applaud Chancellor Sajid Javid speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on Monday. Picture: AP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is asking the EU to rule out a further extension to article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty as part of a new Brexit deal, The Times has learnt.

Mr Johnson will publish a legal text spelling out his proposed alternative to the Irish backstop within days as negotiations with Brussels enter a crucial period.

He has privately made clear that an agreement should include a commitment from the other 27 EU nations that they will not allow another Brexit delay.

Mr Johnson’s intention is to confront MPs in parliament with a binary choice of agreeing to the revised deal or ensuring that Britain falls out of the EU without agreement at the end of the month. If he succeeds, Mr Johnson will, in effect, nullify the Benn act, which compels him to seek an extension to article 50.

The architects of the law, including former Tory MPs Oliver Letwin and Dominic Grieve, have always acknowledged that it cannot compel other EU nations to grant another extension. The demand to rule out further delay could complicate an already fraught negotiation, however.

Ministers are bracing themselves for what one has described as a “moment of truth” for Dublin, Paris, Berlin and Brussels when Britain tables its text on proposals for the Irish border after Brexit.

Some were expressing concern that the Republic of Ireland seemed to be cooling on the solution, which is understood to include limited checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain.

If, however, Brussels chooses to engage with the British proposals, ministers expect intense negoti­ations leading up to the European Council in a little more than two weeks. Should the EU agree to both a new deal and to rule out an extension, the parliamentary arithmetic will be radically altered.

Mr Johnson’s request will provoke a battle with Remain MPs for the ear of European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. France, which was sceptical over the value of the last delay, is understood to have been consulted by the architects of the Benn act over its terms.

Mr Johnson has been warned by members of his cabinet that he will be forced to delay Brexit unless he can get a deal with the EU.

One minister said Mr Johnson was now facing a straight choice of “deal or delay” and could not leave without a deal on October 31. Another minister involved in “war-gaming” attempts to circumvent the act, which forces Mr Johnson to request a Brexit delay if he cannot strike a deal, conceded that they were unlikely to be successful. “The law is the law,” the minister said. “We’ve looked at the options here but in truth there is no foolproof way out here.”

Ministers expect Mr Johnson to “take it to the max” to force Britain to leave the EU at the end of this month. He has told aides he is prepared to give evidence in person at any Supreme Court hearing into the legality of the Benn act, which he calls “the surrender act”. One minister said: “The important thing is that Boris shows he is fighting this with every sinew.”

The Times