On November 13, British MPs asked the government to give them "full legal advice" on Brexit, refusing to accept Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington's proposal to issue a "full, reasoned" statement laying out the government's position.
Instead, the House of Commons passed the Labour Party's motion to push Attorney General Geoffrey Cox to provide his legal analysis of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, which addresses the Irish border issue.
He is expected to publish a reduced version of his legal opinion Monday, despite calls from Labour to see a full version.
Labour MPs threated to combine with other opposition parties to launch contempt proceedings unless Geoffrey Cox's legal advice is published in full, igniting fears of a constitutional battle.
"If the government does not comply with the order the House of Commons passed on November 13, that would be a very serious matter indeed — almost a constitutional crisis," Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti of the Labour Party said on Sunday.
May's cabinet uncovered her Brexit blueprint on November 14, which consists of a 585-page withdrawal agreement and a political declaration on future relations with the EU. Fellow European nations endorsed the agreement at a special Brussels summit on November 25, and now the PM has to get her deal through Parliament.
The pivotal Brexit vote is scheduled in the House of Commons for December 11. Key Brexiteer Michael Gove said that if MPs do not greenlight May's proposal, a scenario under which Britain would crash out of the bloc without a deal will be on the horizon again. "We have got to recognise that if we don't vote for this, the alternatives are no deal or no Brexit," he said.
