Brexit farce is going from bad to worse – Scotsman says

The resignation of Advocate General for Scotland is just the latest worrying sign about the UK Government’s handling of Brexit.

Boris Johnson's threat to renege on the Withdrawal Agreement poses a serious risk to the ongoing negotiations about a vital trade deal with the EU (Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

Before he became Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s political profile was boosted significantly by some rather amusing guest performances on the satirical BBC show Have I Got News for You. He appeared intelligent, witty and able to take a joke at his own expense – all qualities which voters tend to like in their leaders.

However, his handling of the Brexit process is starting to become self-satirising, so bad that it’s almost as if Johnson is deliberately sabotaging his own administration.

From the start, the Internal Market Bill was an admission that when he signed this country up to the Withdrawal Agreement last year, he made a bad deal, one that he now wishes to undo so much that he is prepared to inflict serious damage on Britain’s hitherto good reputation for staying true to its word and abiding by the rule of law.

Then we had a farcical contribution from Robert Buckland, the Justice Secretary no less, who said he would resign if the bill resulted in the UK breaking international law “in a way I find unacceptable”. We look forward to the prospect of a cheeky criminal attempting to deploy the same defence before a Scottish sheriff of the old school.

The latest development is the decision by Lord Keen to resign as Advocate General for Scotland. After Northern Ireland minister Brandon Lewis told MPs the bill would break international law in a “limited and specific way”, Keen insisted it would not, only to find himself contradicted by Lewis. Perhaps the Advocate General struggled to believe the government’s line on this issue could really and truly be that, yes, it will break the law if it deems this to be necessary.

The UK government struck a deal with the EU over the terms of its withdrawal and is now threatening to renege on that while, at the same time, supposedly attempting to negotiate a separate trade deal, one that is absolutely vital to the economic health of this country.

Given Johnson’s behaviour, the EU may decide that tough penalty clauses must be inserted into the trade agreement to prevent similar bad faith on Britain’s part over its terms and conditions.

Will this turn out to be another bad deal for Britain or is Johnson actually hoping for an even worse one – a no-deal Brexit? After the bells ring in the New Year in a few months’ time, Johnson may find his joke on the British people falls flat and few are able to laugh at the expense of their lost jobs, homes and futures.

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