Dale Vince, chief executive of renewable energy supplier Ecotricity, has filed a legal challenge in a bid to ensure Boris Johnson seeks an extension to Article 50 if an agreement with the EU is not reached.
Speaking to Utility Week, Vince confirmed he had filed the case in a Scottish court today (12 September) and that it was being headed by Jo Maugham QC of the Good Law Project.
If successful, the case will result in the prime minister making a commitment to abide by the law and write to the EU seeking an extension to Article 50 if a Brexit agreement is not accepted by MPs.
However if he refuses to do this, the ultimate sanction will be for the court to use its powers to send the letter on his behalf, taking the process out of the prime minister’s hands.
“The action itself is to get him to confirm that he will abide by the law, the Benn Act, and if he refuses to do that, to get the court to order him to. If he fails to, then the court can step in and PP a letter on his behalf”, he told Utility Week.
When asked about how much a case like this would cost, Vince responded: “Not much, a couple of tens of thousands of pounds, that’s what it cost to put it together.
“If you lose badly you could be subject to the other side’s costs but if you win well then you can claim your own costs back. The overall costs won’t be known until the end of it.”
Under the Benn Act, which was passed by Parliament last week, the prime minister is required by law to write to EU leaders to seek an extension on 19 October if a Brexit deal is not reached and MPs reject a no-deal exit.
Johnson has repeatedly suggested he will not send the letter and said he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than seek an extension.
Vince says Johnson repeatedly suggesting he may not abide by the act is “fundamentally wrong”.