Boris Johnson has ignored a deadline given by lawyers wanting to prosecute him over claims he lied about the UK sending £350,000,000 a week to Brussels.

The Vote Leave figurehead now faces a legal fight over the figures plastered on his big red Brexit bus.

The case is being brought by private prosecutor Marcus Ball, who said he wants to make politics ‘moral and trustworthy’ again.

Boris Johnson may now have to defend his Brexit claims in court (Picture: Bloomberg)

His team gave Mr Johnson a 28-day deadline to respond to allegations that the claims he made were knowingly false and done so to sway referendum votes.

Mr Johnson stayed silent and the deadline lapsed on Friday.

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Mr Ball said: ‘Mr Johnson repeatedly claimed that we send £350,000,000 a week to the EU.

‘We feel that we have highly persuasive evidence that he is aware that we do not.

‘Our legal representatives courteously provided Mr Johnson with the opportunity to comment prior to advancing our court case.

‘We essentially gave him the chance to provide us with information that would cause us to reconsider advancing our action.

The claim we send £350,000,000 a week to Brussels could be tested in court (Picture: PA)

‘He chose not to reply.’

Mr Ball told Metro.co.uk there was no legal requirement for Mr Johnson to respond.

However because he has not, they will continue with their private case over alleged misconduct in public office.

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Mr Ball said the offence has a maximum of life in prison.

His team will now file paperwork at Westminster Magistrates’ Court before January 28.

It is understood magistrates would then have to determine whether to allow the case to go ahead.

Mr Ball said there were question marks over the behaviour of both Leave and Remain during the referendum campaign.

Marcus Ball said he will now file legal papers next month at the magistrates’ court

However his team concluded that a case could be brought against Boris Johnson.

He said it was not about overturning the referendum result but to stop false claims being made by politicians.

‘This is about stopping lying in politics; this is not about stopping Brexit, the courts do not have the power to do that.

‘We do need to stop politicians from lying in any future referendums though.

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‘The motivation for this prosecution is a desire to bring a beginning to the end of lying in politics.’

‘I want to prevent conduct of that kind from becoming the normal political standard in UK politics.

‘I knew that if we could win a prosecution against such immoral and untrustworthy actions the precedent could make it illegal for them to occur in future.’

Mr Johnson has repeatedly stood by the £350,000,000 figure used by the Vote Leave campaign during the referendum, which he says represented the UK’s weekly gross contribution to EU budgets.

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In January, he argued that the gross figure would reach £438,000,000 by the end of a post-Brexit transition period.

Metro.co.uk has contacted Mr Johnson for comment.