Johnson set to write request for Brexit extension, says court

Britain's government has pledged to request an extension to article 50 as required by the Benn Act, said a court of law on Friday.

The pledge contradicts the Prime Minister’s claim that Brexit will happen on 31 October regardless of the state of negotiations with the European Union.

Johnson is set to write the letter despite having said recently that he would find a way to sidestep the Benn Act, which requires an extension until January in case no deal agreement has been approved in Parliament by 19 October.

The pledge has been given in legal papers submitted to the court of session in Edinburgh.

Excerpts were seen by Aidan O’Neill QC, the lawyer for Dale Vince, the green energy millionaire, SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC, and the lawyer and anti-Brexit campaigner Jolyon Maugham QC.

It reportedly states the prime minister accepts “he is subject to the public law principle that he cannot frustrate its purpose or the purpose of its provisions. Thus he cannot act so as to prevent the letter requesting the specified extension in the act from being sent.”

A senior Downing Street source said: "The government will comply with the Benn Act, which only imposes a very specific narrow duty concerning Parliament's letter requesting a delay - drafted by an unknown subset of MPs and pro-EU campaigners - and which can be interpreted in different ways.

"But the government is not prevented by the Act from doing other things that cause no delay, including other communications, private and public.

"People will have to wait to see how this is reconciled. The government is making its true position on delay known privately in Europe and this will become public soon."