Britain's Boris Johnson has 2 not-so-secret plans to thwart a new Brexit law

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
(Image credit: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Britain's cross-party bill seeking to prevent Prime Minister Boris Johnson from crashing Britain out of the European Union without an exit deal is expected to become law Monday, following a final vote in the House of Commons and royal assent. The bill requires Johnson to submit a Parliament-drafted letter seeking a three-month Brexit extension if he hasn't negotiated a Parliament-approved withdrawal agreement by mid-October. If you need a refresher of what happened last week, BBC News has a 5-minute explainer.

"To send the letter and then try and neutralize it seems to me to be plainly a breach of the act," Lord Sumption, a former judge of the U.K.'s Supreme Court, told BBC Radio 4. Other legal experts concurred.

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The House of Commons will also vote Monday on Johnson's call for snap elections — and once again, lawmakers are expected to reject the call. That will likely be Parliament's last action before it is prorogued (suspended) for a month, at Johnson's order. Meanwhile, a member of Johnson's Cabinet, Amber Rudd, resigned over the weekend, saying there's "very little evidence" the government is even trying to get a new Brexit deal and is instead spending up to 90 percent of its time planning for a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.