Brexit extension: 'Impeach Boris Johnson if law ignored'
Opposition party leaders should be ready to try to impeach the prime minister if he ignores a new no-deal Brexit law, say Plaid Cymru.
Boris Johnson has "already driven a bulldozer through the constitution", said Plaid's Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts.
The law, which should gain royal assent on Monday, aims to stop the UK exiting the EU with no deal on 31 October.
Number 10 has been contacted for comment.
No prime minister has ever successfully been impeached but Mr Johnson himself previously supported a bid to impeach Tony Blair when he was PM in 2004.
It is method by which Parliament can try individuals for high treason or other misdemeanours, but it is now considered to be obsolete.
The Brexit cross-party bill - which requires the prime minister to extend the exit deadline until January unless Parliament agrees a deal with the EU by 19 October - was passed on Friday.
But the PM has said he would "rather be dead in a ditch" than ask for a delay.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said previously that the government would abide by the law but would "look very carefully" at its "interpretation" of the legislation.
Legal experts have warned the prime minister could go to prison if he refuses to comply with the new law.
Ms Saville Roberts, MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, said she would be telling opposition party leaders that they should be ready to impeach Mr Johnson if he ignores the new law.
"Boris Johnson has already driven an bulldozer through the constitution, so no longer are ideas like impeachment farfetched," she said.
"If the prime minister becomes a law-breaker, we have an even stronger case for impeachment than the very cause he advocated back in 2004.
"No one is above the law, Boris Johnson shouldn't risk finding that out the hard way.
"No PM would want to play fast and loose with views he held on such matters in the past."
How does impeachment work?
- Although a number of ministers up until the 19th Century have been impeached, no prime minister has ever successfully been impeached
- It only takes one MP to make the accusation of high crimes and misdemeanours against a public official for the impeachment process to begin
- The process would see the House of Commons first vote on an impeachment motion, which, if passed, could lead to prosecution and trial
- Historically trials have taken place in Westminster Hall
Analysis
By BBC Wales political editor Felicity Evans
No prime minister has ever been impeached, and while Boris Johnson would probably face legal action if he disobeyed the law, that action would most likely be in the courts rather than in Parliament.
But we are some way away from either of those situations arising at the moment.
Ministers insist that the PM will abide by the law, although Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab suggests he will "look very carefully" at the "interpretation" of the legislation.
Plaid has attempted impeachment against a prime minister before - Tony Blair over the Iraq War - it was a long shot then and remains so now.
The last (unsuccessful) attempt at the prosecution of an impeachment was in 1806.
Back in 1999 the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege stated that "the procedure may be considered obsolete".
But politically, it is a means of keeping up the pressure on the prime minister and highlighting the serious nature of the dispute in question.
And with both government and opposition parties engaging in unconventional constitutional measures in the run up to 31 October, the improbable is not the impossible.