Ministers could advise the Queen to withhold royal assent to the bill

Legal experts are at odds over the potential role of the Queen should she be drawn into the Brexit deadlock.

Top constitutional lawyers and academics have been debating what would happen if ministers advised the monarch to withhold royal assent to a new bill passed by parliament.

The legislation is unusual because parliament is instructing the executive government on a course of action that is contrary to its wishes on setting an Article 50 extension date.

Lord Pannick, QC, a Times Law columnist, wrote to The Times this week along with professors from several leading universities to say that urging the Queen to withhold her assent would be “utterly without precedent”.

The letter pointed out that parliament’s website states: “The Queen’s agreement to give her