UK government publishes full Brexit legal advice

By Muhammad Mussa </p> <p>LONDON (AA) – U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has released the government’s Brexit legal advice on Wednesday after suffering a series of humiliating defeats in the House of Commons and being found in contempt of parliament. </p> <p>The analysis by Attorney General Geoffrey Cox warns that under the terms of the Irish backstop arrangement, the U.K. will be trapped in a series of “protracted and repeated rounds of negotiations” in the years after the U.K. leaves the EU.</p> <p>The six-page document admits that the U.K. could be trapped indefinitely by the arrangement after having argued that it would be able to end the arrangement unilaterally. </p> <p>“In international law, the protocol would endure indefinitely until a superseding arrangement took its place,” Cox said in the document, further stating that the protocol would continue even if negotiations broke down between the two sides. </p> <p>The border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland — the only land border between the U.K. and the EU — and the government’s arrangements at preventing a hard border from being put in place is the main source of contention amongst the MPs on May’s deal. </p> <p>On Tuesday, the government was found in contempt of parliament after six opposition parties launched legal proceedings against the ministers over their failure to publish the full legal analysis. </p> <p>In an historic vote, the government suffered a humiliating defeat yesterday after a majority of MPs voted to pass a motion declaring government ministers, including Cox, to have been in contempt of parliament. </p> <p>Furthermore, the government suffered two more losses after having being defeated on a vote that would protect the government from scrutiny and a vote that would strengthen the hand of parliament if the prime minister’s deal is voted down.