Brexit: John Bercow says there is 'arguable case' government has committed contempt by failing to publish legal advice
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May is facing a constitutional crisis after six opposition parties joined forces to accuse the government of contempt of Parliament over its failure to publish its full Brexit legal advice.
The Commons Speaker, John Bercow, said there was "an arguable case" that the government had committed contempt, after he was asked by Labour, the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, the Green Party and the DUP to begin proceedings.
Earlier, Attorney general Geoffrey Cox admitted the UK could be locked into a customs backstop under the prime minister’s Brexit blueprint.
Mr Cox confirmed that neither the UK nor EU would be able to unilaterally end the Northern Irish backstop arrangement if it came into force, in an address to MPs.
It also comes as The Independent’s petition calling for a Final Say referendum on Brexit was delivered to Downing Street, after more than a million people backed the campaign.
See below for live updates:
"Parliament is gridlocked," says Justine Greening MP. "Let's trust the people to make an informed decision on Britan's next step."
Video of The Independent's Final Say petition being delivered to Downing Street.
More on the TV debate due to take place between Theresa "Strictly" May and Jeremy "I'm a Celebrity" Corbyn on Sunday evening.
Ms May told This Morning: "I'm keen to have a head-to-head with Jeremy Corbyn, I hope this actually goes through.
"He said he wanted to be on ITV so he could watch the final of I'm a Celebrity ... I think his proposal meant that I would miss Strictly.
"I hate to say this on ITV but I'm a bit of a Strictly fan."
Brexiteers have complained that their side will not be represented if the head-to-head takes place, while Lib Dem leader Vince Cable has argued that the views of Remainers are being excluded.
Former Ukip deputy chair Suzanne Evans is the latest high profile figure to quit the party over leader Gerard Batten's lurch to the right.
She said: "Enough is enough. Having been increasingly alarmed in recent months by the perverse direction in which Gerard Batten is taking UKIP – with no mandate from members – I have reached the end of the road."
Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay is making his first appearance before the Exiting the EU committee since taking up the role last month. He is the third person to hold the job - after Dominic Raab and David Davis both resigned in protest at Theresa May's deal.
MPs are also grilling Oliver Robbins, Ms May's top Brexit adviser, who has led the negotiations behind the scenes. It's excellent timing as Mr Robbins reportedly wrote to the PM expressing concern about the Irish backstop plan.
Here's our story from this morning:
Theresa May's chief Brexit adviser has admitted the EU would not accept the prime minister's plan for guaranteeing frictionless trade after Brexit, writes Indy political correspondent Ben Kentish.
Giving evidence to the Commons Brexit committee, Olly Robbins said some parts of Ms May's Chequers plan remained "challenging and difficult" for the EU.
Asked why the agreement between the UK and EU does not include a guarantee of "frictionless trade", he said: "The government has put forward its proposals on how to achieve frictionless trade with the EU vociferously, especially since the White Paper in July.
"Some of those proposals have gained traction - others are still challenging and difficult.
Mr Robbins said the political declaration on the future UK-EU relationship "makes clear it is the ambition of both sides to achieve as frictionless a relationship as possible" and insisted that "frictionlessness is not ruled out" under the terms of declaration.
But he added: "I don't think minsters, least of all the prime minister, are hiding from the fact that we've still got a job to do to convince people of the detail of every bit of that."
The Northern Ireland border backstop is a "slightly uncomfortable necessity" for both the UK and the European Union, Olly Robbins has said.
He told the Brexit committee that the fallback plan agreed with Brussels was "not the future relationship that either the UK or the EU wants to have with one another".
Mr Robbins said: "It is an uncomfortable position for both sides and the reality ... is that there is not a withdrawal agreement without a backstop.
"That reflects also, as I've said to this committee before, ministers' commitments to Northern Ireland and to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, rather than being something imposed upon us.
"So, it is a necessity and a slightly uncomfortable necessity for both sides."
Campaigners for a new referendum have handed in petitions to Downing Street demanding the British public be given a final say on the outcome of Brexit.
The group representing The Independent’s Final Say campaign and the People’s Vote initiative handed in the petitions carrying almost 1.5m names as the prime minister prepared to address the Commons.
Full story here:
Asked if the government had drafted a clause for the Withdrawal Agreement which would have allowed the UK to opt out of the backstop unilaterally, Olly Robbins said: "Ministers asked us to look at a whole range of options for how to bring the backstop to an end, and so we did.
"And the prime minister and other ministers tested some of those out on European partners.
"But, what we went into the negotiation with in the end was a text that delivered the termination clause very much as it is laid out there."
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