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U.K. Court Challenges Mount Against Johnson’s Brexit Strategy

U.K. Court Challenges Mount Against Johnson’s Brexit Strategy

(Bloomberg) --

Renewable energy pioneer Dale Vince sought an injunction to compel U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek to delay Brexit next month.

Vince, founder of Ecotricity Group Ltd. and donor to the opposition Labour Party at the last election, filed papers seeking an immediate order that the premier should comply with the new law compelling him to seek a Brexit delay if he hasn’t secured a deal with the European Union by Oct. 19.

Johnson has said he’d rather “die in a ditch” than seek an extension to Brexit.

The documents were submitted to the Scottish Court of Sessions, which ruled on Wednesday that Johnson’s suspension of Parliament is unlawful.

“This court has a superpower, it is able to send a letter on Johnson’s behalf to the EU and for it to have legal weight,” Vince said. “So they can themselves request the extension if he refuses to do so.”

The prime minister’s determination to take the U.K. out of the bloc without a deal if necessary risks “massive national harm,” Vince said, meaning an added layer of compulsion to abide by the new law, which was passed in Parliament last week, is needed.

“It advances the legal case: He would be immediately in contempt of court if he doesn’t do it,” Vince said. “It’s just completely wrong to me that our prime minister should so openly talk about not following the law. It undermines everything in a democratic country.”

Vince’s move adds to a string of cases taken against the government in relation to Johnson’s Brexit plans. A Northern Irish court ruled on Thursday that a no-deal Brexit wouldn’t violate the Good Friday peace accord. While the Edinburgh court ruled the suspension of Parliament unlawful because it stymied lawmakers, London judges said that the matter didn’t fall under their oversight.

Top Court

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Northern Irish, Scottish and English court cases, with hearings to begin on Tuesday.

Vince has teamed up with Jolyon Maugham, the lawyer who spearheaded Wednesday’s case in Edinburgh, and has been a legal thorn in the government’s side throughout the Brexit process. If the injunction is granted, and Johnson doesn’t write the letter seeking to extend negotiations, he said he’ll ask the court to sign and send the letter to the EU itself.

Vince said he rates the chances of success in his case as “good” and added he isn’t concerned about blurring the boundary between the judiciary and the state because “the state make the laws and the judiciary enforces them.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Thomas Penny

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