Scottish Judge To Rule If British PM Can Be Jailed For Refusing To Delay Brexit

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A Scottish judge could force British PM Boris Johnson to request another Brexit extension or face a fine or prison time.

A Scottish judge could force British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to request another Brexit extension and postpone Brexit yet again or face a fine prison time.

Lord Pentland, an Outer House judge, will hear the case at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Friday. He will rule whether it should be moved to the senior part of the court, the Inner House, on Monday according to a report in The Scotsman.

The legal bid to delay Brexit has been launched by anti-Brexit campaigner Jolyon Maugham QC and member of the leftist Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) Joanna Cherry. Both were involved in the successful Supreme Court challenge against the government over the suspension of parliament last week.

The case is also being funded by millionaire green energy industrialist Dale Vince.

Breitbart report: Last month, the British parliament passed a law, the Benn Act, which forces the prime minister to seek an extension of Article 50 to the end of January 2020 if he fails to pass a deal in the Commons by October 19th. The law also prevents Boris Johnson from taking the UK out of the EU without an agreement on October 31st.

However, Remain activists fear that Johnson’s team will exploit loopholes in the law and deliver Brexit on October 31st, as the prime minister has pledged “with or without a deal”. Last week, a Downing Street spokesman said that the government “will comply with the law, but we are leaving on 31 October”.

The Guardian reports that the Court of Session is unique amongst British courts in that it has the power to take action if someone refuses to do something that they are ordered to do.

The petitioners want the Scottish judges to force the prime minister to request the extension and consider fining or imprisoning Boris Johnson if he refuses. According to the legal papers, if the prime minister “fails, delays or refuses to sign the letter required of him by the European Union (Withdrawal) (No.2)) Act 2019 [the Benn Act]”, the court should “impose such other conditions and other penalties including fine and imprisonment”.

The court may also bar the prime minister from asking EU leaders to veto the extension and order a clerk of the court to write to Brussels asking for an extension.

Whether or not the anti-Brexit campaigners are successful, it would likely result in another Supreme Court battle in the weeks before the UK’s scheduled exit of the European Union on October 31st.

Baxter Dmitry

Baxter Dmitry

Baxter Dmitry is a writer at The People's Voice. He covers politics, business and entertainment. Speaking truth to power since he learned to talk, Baxter has travelled in over 80 countries and won arguments in every single one. Live without fear.
Email: baxter@thepeoplesvoice.tv
Baxter Dmitry

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