DOWNING St has sought to distance the UK Government from Jeremy Hunt’s signal that Brexit Day might have to be delayed as MPs face having to work weekends and through a cancelled February recess to ensure the necessary legislation for withdrawal is passed in time.
The Foreign Secretary said: “It is true that if we ended up approving a deal in the days before March 29, then we might need some extra time to pass critical legislation. But if we are able to make progress sooner, then that might not be necessary. We can't know at this stage exactly which of those scenarios would happen."
A similar assertion was made last week by Andrea Leadsom, the Commons Leader, who said the EU27 could be prepared to grant the UK a "couple of extra weeks" beyond the March 29 deadline to finalise preparations for Brexit.
This morning, the pressure on the Government, as the clock ticks down to Brexit Day, was underlined when it announced Westminster’s February 14 to 25 recess had been cancelled.
Mrs Leadsom said this was to enable the Commons to "make progress on the key business" before it, adding constituents would expect this to happen "at this important time".
The issue of compensation for MPs and staff to cover, among other things, cancelled holidays and extra child care costs, was raised. The potential bill could run into millions of pounds.
Asked about Mr Hunt’s remarks on possibly putting off Brexit Day, Theresa May’s spokesman said the Government’s position was “unchanged; we will be leaving on March 29”.
He explained: “Our position on that remains that we are determined to have everything in place for us to leave on March 29 this year. The fact that recess won’t be taking place and MPs will be sitting shows you that we are taking all available steps that March 29 is our exit date.”
The spokesman was unclear whether or not all the remaining Brexit bills, covering such things as trade, agriculture and fisheries, had to be passed before March 29. “We have never got into that,” he said.
But he did make clear that the Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill[WAIB], which enshrines any new deal with Brussels into law, would have to be passed by Brexit Day. “I accept there will need to be time for proper scrutiny of WAIB. To leave we have to pass WAIB.”
With just 57 days to Brexit, most of which could now be sitting days, Whitehall will have a cut-off date by which all the necessary legislation has to be passed before exit day. So far, it has not indicated what this is.
Mrs May’s spokesman pointed out that in terms of Statutory Instruments[SIs] relating to Brexit: “We are continuing to make good progress in that area.”
Statutory Instruments or secondary legislation allow the provisions of an Act of Parliament to be brought into force or altered without the need for Parliament having to pass a new Act.
No 10 explained that out of around 550 SIs relating to Brexit, the Government had laid 363 and passed 165.
“We expect progress on Brexit legislation will continue to accelerate in the coming weeks,” said the PM’s spokesman.
In the Commons, during Business Questions, Mrs Leadsom told MPs: "The House will know that recess dates are always announced subject to the process of business.
"In this unique session of Parliament and in light of the significant decisions taken by the House this week, it is only right that I give the House notice that there are currently no plans to bring forward a motion to agree dates for the February recess, and the House may therefore need to continue to sit to make progress on the key business before the House.
"I realise that this is short notice for colleagues and House staff but I do think our constituents would expect that the House is able to continue to make progress at this important time," she added.
Pete Wishart for the SNP said for some MPs, who had planned holidays during next month’s recess, the announcement would have gone down “like a bucket of sick”. He asked what would the business be for that week in February; would it relate to Brexit?
Mrs Leadsom replied by saying there was a “huge amount” of Brexit-related legislation, which involved very important pieces of parliamentary business.
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