Boris Johnson will test law to block no-deal ‘to the limit’

Dominic Raab said: 'That's not only the lawful thing to do it's the responsible thing to do.'

The Prime Minister will look ‘very carefully’ into loopholes to circumvent no-deal Brexit legistation, the foreign secretary has said.

Describing the new bill as ‘lousy’, Dominic Raab told Sky News’ Sophie Ridge the PM’s actions would be the ‘responsible thing to do’.

The bill, expected to be given Royal Ascent and made law Monday, requires Boris Johnson to ask Brussels for an Article 50 extension by 19 October, allowing the UK to stay in the European Union until 31 January.

Refusal to do so could be illegal but the foreign secretary said the prime minister could attempt to work around it.

Mr Raab said: ‘What we are going to do with that legislation is test very carefully what it does and doesn’t require.

‘That’s not only the lawful thing to do it’s the responsible thing to do.

‘We’re always going to behave lawfully as a government, and anyway it will be challenged in the courts.’

His comments come at the end of a turbulent week for his party when 21 MPs were sacked for rebelling against the government.

This was followed by the double humiliation of the prime minister’s brother Jo Johnson and former home secretary Amber Rudd both quitting.

Ms Rudd said it was the ‘the lack of planning’ for actually getting a deal that had made her position ‘untenable’.

Speaking after she was replaced by Therese Coffey MP within hours of announcing her resignation, she said: ‘What I have seen in government is that there is this huge machine preparing for no-deal.

‘You might expect in the balance between getting a deal and no-deal 50/50 in terms of work but it’s not that, it’s like 80 per cent to 90 per cent of government time going into preparing for no-deal and the absence of trying to get a deal has driven 21 of my colleagues to rebel, and I need to join them.’

Mr Raab was quick to dismiss the idea the government were not trying to strike a deal with the EU but when pressed on details of the plans he only said revealing anything could lead to the ‘other side’ rubbishing them.