Shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti has insisted Boris Johnson will be forced to abide by the law preventing a no-deal Brexit, insisting there are no loopholes.
Baroness Chakrabarti said the so-called Benn Act – designed to prevent Britain crashing out of the EU if a deal isn’t reached by October 31 – was “very explicit” about the Prime Minister’s duty.
She told the BBC's Andrew Marr: "It is very very specific and explicit about the personal duty on the Prime Minister to either get a deal through the House of Commons or persuade the House of Commons that no-deal is plausible, or he has to write a letter.”
She added: “If Boris Johnson kicks and screams but complies with the law, that will be a good thing.
"Once the Benn Act has been complied with, there should be a general election “certainly this side of Christmas,” she went on.
It comes after it was revealed on Friday that the PM would be willing to send a letter to Brussels requesting an extension to Brexit if he wasn’t able to secure a withdrawal agreement by October 19.
In an apparent contradiction to this position, he later tweeted: "New deal or no deal - but no delay. #GetBrexitDone #LeaveOct31."
Speaking to Andrew Marr today, Baroness Chakrabati accused Mr Johnson of "speaking with a forked tongue" on his intention to ask for an extension from the EU.
"He seems to have a very casual relationship with the law,” she said.
“He seems to think he is above the law. As the Supreme Court showed us a few weeks ago, he is not. No one is above the law, even a British Prime Minister."
She also confirmed that the letter requesting an extension to Article 50 “has been drafted and attached to the Act to the European Union asking for more time."
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The Labour peer added that it was important to see what a Boris Johnson deal might look like, and that Parliament must be able to scrutinise his proposals.
She said his current proposals "cannot get through".
However, that if a deal was approved by Dublin and Brussels, it would be something that would be "more likely" to pass Labour's tests.
Questioned on the prospect of a caretaker Prime Minister, in the event of Mr Johnson resigning or being removed from the post, she dismissed current speculation that Commons Speaker John Bercow could take on the role.
“If I may say so, we are now getting into almost fantasy football. I think it’s unlikely, I really really do,” she said.
