The National:

THE UK Government has admitted its new masterplan for Brexit will break international law.

That sounds bad, obviously, but it’s important to put such statements into their proper context.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis did just that in the Commons today, explaining that the Tories are only prepared to break the law in a “specific and very limited way”.

Now that doesn’t sound so bad, does it?

Amazingly, not everyone is convinced by the minister’s justification.

WATCH: The moment Tories admit Brexit plan will break international law

Here are some of the best responses to Lewis’s astonishing admission.

Legal experts are somewhat sceptical about the Tory plan.

The Secret Barrister has called on both the Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland and Attorney General Suella Braverman to resign over the matter, given that both swore that pesky oath to uphold the rule of law. He had this to say.

Scottish Justice Minister Humza Yousaf was equally impressed.

Good Law Project chief Jo Maugham added this.

Even the Downing Street cat could see the holes in Lewis’s justification.

Others imagined the statement in alternative scenarios.

SNP MP Alyn Smith and writer David Hayward drew on Shakespeare.

While EU law professor Steve Peers and Politics Home editor in chief Alan White used slightly more contemporary references.

Scot Goes Pop blogger and National contributor James Kelly pondered the argument’s possible ramifications for Scottish independence.

Columnist Kirsty Strickland added this.