Compliance with the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019 Debate

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Department: Department for Exiting the European Union

Compliance with the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019

Clive Betts Excerpts
Thursday 26th September 2019

(5 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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James Duddridge Portrait James Duddridge
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I want to restore trust in the House. There is genuine division—it is not just an issue of linguistics and language. The House is divided; the country is divided. That is why we want to provide as much clarity as possible: we want a deal, and if we do not get that deal, we will obey the law as it stands at the time.

Clive Betts Portrait Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)
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Is the Minister saying that the Government believe that if this House does not agree a deal and does not agree no deal by 19 October, there is a doubt that the law requires the Prime Minister to sign the letter asking for an extension?

James Duddridge Portrait James Duddridge
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I am not going into that legal advice. I have not done that. I think the hon. Gentleman is asking if that is the point that I am making. That is not the point that I was making. In my answer to the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper), I talked of legal advice and the normal conventions around it.