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Jo Maugham QC
@JolyonMaugham
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
If Boris Johnson loses a Vote of No Confidence there can be a change of Government - to one that will block No Deal and enact a referendum or revoke - *without* a General Election.
You can see this *clearly* expressed in the Explanatory Notes to section 2 of the Fixed Term Parliament Act 2011 (legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/14/…).
What it requires is the preparedness of a group of Tories to join a temporary anti-No Deal Government after a vote of no confidence. And some coordination, which is already reportedly happening.
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More from @JolyonMaugham see all

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Jo Maugham QC
@JolyonMaugham
I can confirm that our action to prevent the Charlatan cancelling Parliament has received (without an oral hearing) permission to proceed. THREAD
A copy of the Petition, in which I am a Petitioner along with @joswinson, @joannaccherry and some seventy other MPs and Peers, can be read here. goodlawproject.org/cross-party-gr…
The Government's 'defence' seems only to be that because Parliament amended the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Bill it follows that it is happy with any other suspension of Parliament. This (it seems to me at any rate) is an almost self-evidently bad proposition.
Read 7 tweets
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Jo Maugham QC
@JolyonMaugham
If x and y have red-lines which are incompatible "fault" doesn't come into it. x and y value their own red-lines and balance the cost of failing to reach agreement. Talk of "fault" is a stratagem to deflect responsibility from the costs that x and y willingly choose to bear.
The real problem is that the present Government has no mandate to conduct that balancing exercise. May won a minority Government on a different platform. Johnson was selected by a vanishingly small Selectorate. Leave never sought in 2016 a mandate for No Deal.
Add in that MPs (in whom the Referendum Act 2015 reposed the choice of what to do) have repeatedly voted against No Deal, the decision is irreversible, and No Deal can only happen by suspending or sidelining those MPs and you have a genuine democratic outrage: a putsch.
Read 4 tweets
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Jo Maugham QC
@JolyonMaugham
@BaronVonDuncs @sundersays @StevePeers @ianpacemain @julia_politics @stephen_rth @carlgardner The answer to this conundrum - and in my view the real difficulty with this plan - is how an alternative Government indicates to HM that it is better placed to command the confidence of the House. If it can then (I think) the Charlatan would have no choice but to resign. 1/x
@BaronVonDuncs @sundersays @StevePeers @ianpacemain @julia_politics @stephen_rth @carlgardner If it can't then the Charlatan would be entitled to remain in Government. I am not aware of any convention (still less a justiciable one) surviving the FTPA that would require the Charlatan to resign absent another Government being in a better position. 2/x
@BaronVonDuncs @sundersays @StevePeers @ianpacemain @julia_politics @stephen_rth @carlgardner Indeed, I think the absence of any such statement in the FTPA might be thought implicitly to rule out such a convention.

So how does an alternative Government indicate it is better placed? I spent some time in July looking at this and there is no obvious mechanic in... 3/x
Read 9 tweets

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George Peretz QC🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿BL🇮🇪
@GeorgePeretzQC
In the context of the debate about what happens if Johnson loses a vote of no confidence, a reminder that we are already in a constitutional crisis.
Our government has made it clear that it will persist in a policy (no deal Brexit) with fundamental implications for all of us even if a clear majority of the House demands that it use the powers available to it to pursue a different policy.
And it also proposes to use its various powers to control the business of the House and to block legislation with financial implications so as to deny the House the chance to legislate so as to give effect to the will of the House.
Read 6 tweets
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George Peretz QC🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿BL🇮🇪
@GeorgePeretzQC
Cummings is, I think, (unsurprisingly) wrong about the constitution: if there is a vote of no confidence in say September and an election is not fixed till after Halloween, the purdah convention would require Johnson to seek an extension until after Election Day.
But since there is doubt about the enforceability of that convention, and since Cummings/Johnson have contempt for conventions that don’t suit them, it would be foolish to rely on it.
MPs seeking to stop no deal should therefore be prepared to rally round an alternative PM: if Johnson loses a vote of no confidence he can then be told that if he refuses to extend, a majority of MPs will then back an alternative PM, whom the Queen would then have to appoint.
Read 5 tweets
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George Peretz QC🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿BL🇮🇪
@GeorgePeretzQC
This thread is on the convention that an outgoing government - one that has lost a vote of no confidence and is in office pending an imminent election - should not take any decision that preempts its successor: the “don’t preempt convention”.
What that means is rather important if Johnson loses a vote of no confidence in October. Unless another government is then put together within 14 days that does command confidence (the “national unity” idea) then there is an election and Johnson stays as PM until Election Day.
But Election Day wouldn’t then be till after Halloween: so if Johnson refused to ask for an extension, we’d crash out.
Read 15 tweets
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Robin Niblett
@RobinNiblett
Boris Johnson’s talk of re-negotiating the Withdrawal Agreement is a charade. Even if the EU27 concede on the backstop, Boris has two more red lines: the "vassal status" transition period; & the £30+ bn committed w/out leverage over the final relationship chathamhouse.org/expert/comment…
2/5 This leaves Boris with two options. (1) He can challenge Parliament to back / not block a No Deal Brexit or, if that fails, (2) call a general election and secure a mandate for No Deal
3/5 If Britain leaves the EU on 31 October, BJ could try to negotiate a short-term standstill arrangement to give the UK time to put in place procedures to limit economic disruption. At the same time, he would want to start negotiating the future trading and security relationship
Read 5 tweets
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Staedtler
@Staedtler
I'm seeing tweets that say we've got four options. The four they list are:

1. Extension
2. Revoke
3. Election
4. Referendum

But it's not four separate things
Start with revoke. You can't just get up one morning and revoke Article 50. There has to be something that precedes that. Like an election or a referendum.
But you can't do those overnight, that requires a process too.
The final step is revoke. It won't end until that happens, so we'll put that last

1
2
3
4. Revoke

Right, so on what authority did we decide to revoke?
Read 5 tweets
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Michael Green
@andmichaelgreen
#VOTE like you remember family separation.

#Vote like you remember Kavanaugh.

#Vote like you remember “Fine people on both sides.”
#Vote like you remember Helsinki.

#Vote like you remember Khizr and Ghazala Khan.

#Vote like you remember the fake Blind Trust.

#Vote like you remember their vow to take away your health care.
#Vote like you remember “alternative Facts.”

#Vote like you remember his tax returns.

#Vote like you remember the dismantling of the EPA.

#Vote LIKE YOU REMEMBER EVERY MEMBER OF THE GOP CONGRESS WHO ALLOWED ALL OF THIS TO HAPPEN.
Read 33 tweets

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