The head of the UK government’s legal department has become the latest prominent civil servant to quit, reportedly over its decision to override parts of the Brexit deal on Northern Ireland.
A spokesman for the attorney general’s office confirmed Sir Jonathan Jones had resigned but refused to comment further.
On Monday, when it emerged the government was planning to table proposals on Wednesday to give ministers unilateral legal powers to oversee elements of the Northern Ireland protocol, the disclosure provoked widespread disquiet because the agreement is already legally binding.
The FT reported Jones had resigned because of concerns Boris Johnson was trying to overwrite parts of the Brexit agreement relating to Northern Ireland.
A number of senior figures have expressed alarm at the government’s proposals for the bill. The former justice secretary David Gauke said the government would be “taking the most extraordinary risk” if it sought to unilaterally change the protocol through draft legislation due to be published on Wednesday.
“Any attempt to backslide from the commitments made in the Northern Ireland protocol would be seen as an act of bad faith by the EU and the wider world,” he said. “It would undermine trust and likely result not just in no deal, but an acrimonious no deal.”
UK officials have played down the significance of the changes but Jones’s departure suggests there has been serious disagreement over the legality of the proposals.
Legal experts have warned the dispute could end up in the European court of justice if it breaches the withdrawal agreement signed by Boris Johnson in January.
A dispute would trigger a specific legal process ending in the Luxembourg court – and if the UK was found to have breached the international treaty it signed in January, the EU would have powers to punish it.
The court can impose a heavy fine on the UK, suspend part of the withdrawal agreement, launch trade wars and impose tariffs or even sanctions on British exports.
Jones becomes the sixth senior Whitehall figures quitting their posts in recent months, including the cabinet secretary, Mark Sedwill, the Foreign Office permanent secretary, Simon McDonald, and the Department of Education’s Jonathan Slater.
Sir Philip Rutnam, former permanent secretary at the Home Office, has begun legal proceedings against the department for constructive dismissal.
He seems to be the latest victim of a drive by No 10 to radically reshape the civil service – a process spearheaded by Johnson’s chief of staff, Dominic Cummings, who reportedly told aides that a “hard rain” was heading for uncooperative Whitehall officials.
Lord Charlie Falconer, Labour’s shadow attorney general, said: “Jonathan Jones is an impressive lawyer and a loyal civil servant. If he can’t stay in the public service, there must be something very rotten about this government. This resignation indicates that senior government lawyers think that the government are about to break the law.
“The government is trashing the best of the UK, we are a law abiding country and the government have some serious questions to answer.”
source https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/08/uks-top-legal-civil-servant-quits-over-brexit-deal-changes-jonathan-jones
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