LONDON — The U.K. government was on Monday ordered to release private messages between senior officials relating to its decision to suspend parliament, as well as documents related to no-deal Brexit planning.
MPs voted 311 to 302 in favor of a motion demanding the documentation’s release, in an emergency debate just hours before parliament was suspended until October 14.
The motion, tabled by former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, passed amid concerns the government’s decision to suspend parliament was designed to stop MPs from halting a no-deal Brexit.
The documents include all correspondence involving nine government officials since July 23 — including Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser Dominic Cummings — related to the suspension of parliament, as well as documents prepared as part of “Operation Yellowhammer” contingency plans.
No. 10 officials said ahead of the vote that “under no circumstances” would they comply with the demands.
“The scope of the information requested … is disproportionate and unprecedented,” a government spokesperson said after the motion passed. “We will consider the implications of this vote and respond in due course.”
The government should provide the information by 11 p.m. on September 11.
If it fails to comply, however, MPs will not be able to get any redress until October 14 when parliament reconvenes.
During the debate, Grieve, a former Tory MP who was thrown out of the party last week for defying the government over Brexit, said officials had told him they believe the handling of the so-called prorogation “smacked of scandal.”
Attorney General Geoffrey Cox questioned the legality of requiring access to No. 10 employees’ private messages and mobile phones, saying Grieve’s request risks a “trespass on fundamental rights of individuals.”
Grieve argued that as government employees, officials should not use private means of communication for official business.