Former Brexit legal chief Nikki da Costa reveals the reasons why she quit No10

Nikki da Costa has spoken about her decision to leave the post of director of legislative affairs
Nikki Da Costa/Facebook
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Theresa May’s legislative chief who had a key role in getting the Government’s Brexit plans through Parliament told today of the misgivings which led her to quit No10.

Nikki da Costa spoke for the first time about her decision to leave the post of director of legislative affairs at Downing Street.

She was working on how the Prime Minister could win the “meaningful vote”, which will be held on December 11, to get parliamentary approval for her plans to withdraw from the European Union and the outline of a future trade relationship.

But Ms da Costa stood down around two weeks ago and told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning: “It’s been an honour to serve the Prime Minister and to work with that team...I’ve got tremendous regard for them.

“But just as others, and people far, far more important than me have wrestled with this, I did too.

“I felt I needed to step away and let people that could really take the fight on 100 per cent take that role.”

Mrs May has been hit by a series of resignations over her plans to quit the EU including two Brexit Secretaries, David Davis and Dominic Raab , Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey.

She faced a fresh storm today after it emerged that Downing Street will not publish the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox’s full legal advice on the Brexit deal, which some MPs see as defying Parliament which backed a motion for disclosure.

Brexiteers fear that the Government is refusing to release the documents because they will show in detail how the UK risk being trapped in a customs union with the EU under the “backstop” arrangements.

However, Chancellor Philip Hammond insisted that it would be “impossible for the Government to function” if such confidential material was made public in full, rather than a summary of it.

“There’s a very important principle here, that the Government must be able to commission impartial legal advice which absolutely tells it like it is to enable it to shape its decisions, while always complying with its legal obligation in the negotiations,” he said.

“It would be impossible for Government to function if we create a precedent that the legal advice that the Government receives has to be made public.

“We must have, as every other citizen has, the right to take privileged legal advice which remains private between the lawyer and the client.”

But arch-Brexiteer Sir Bill Cash backed Labour’s call to reveal what Mr Cox told the Cabinet about the legal implications of the draft Withdrawal Agreement.

The veteran Tory MP rejected the idea that publishing the full legal advice on the Brexit deal could have a “chilling effect” on future advice given by the Attorney General.

He said: “This is a massively important constitutional question, and under the ministerial code it quite clearly states that the Attorney General’s opinion must be sought on critical legal decision in good time.

“And that being available to the Cabinet, I don’t really see why it shouldn’t be available to the people and to Parliament, when in fact this issue is so critical to the whether or not we really do leave the European Union.”

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer has written to Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington asking for the legal advice to be made public as soon as possible.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in