Published 20:44 IST, September 9th 2019
Boris Johnson to suspend UK Parliament till October mid-week
British PM to suspend Parliament till Oct 14 while UK is scheduled to exit EU on Oct 31; the suspension will limit the chance to block PM's plans for Brexit
- World News
- 3 min read
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has confirmed that the UK Parliament is all set to be suspended at the end of Monday's sitting and the members of the house will not return until October 14. The UK is scheduled to exit the European Union on October 31 and the suspension is going to limit the opposition's ability to block Johnson’s plans for Brexit.
With Queen Elizabeth II's approval to suspend the Parliament, Johnson's political opponents will get very little time to pass any new laws that could hinder the Prime Minister's plan to exiting the UK out of the EU without a deal. As a result, this decision outraged many opposition leaders and lawmakers.
The UK Parliament experinced one of its damatic days when the decision to stall the Parliament till the mid of October came in. Amid criticism, Speaker of the House John Bercow also announced that he will stand down as Commons Speaker and MP.
Shut down of Parliament would betray democracy: Bercow
Speaker of the Lower House of Commons, John Bercow, wasn't aware of Johnson's plan and said shutting down of UK Parliament would betray the democracy of the nation and the rights of the parliamentarians as the elected representatives of the common man. The opposition leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, wrote to the Queen to protest in the strongest possible measure on behalf of his party and he believes all other opposition parties would join in with him.
The House of Commons was expected to assemble from September 3-10 and then was scheduled to go on a break until October 9.
Frequent rejections resulted in the resignation of Theresa May
Theresa May's withdrawal agreement had been rejected thrice by the UK's Parliament resulting in the former PM to announce her resignation in May amid a political deadlock. During the campaign, Johnson promised to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement pending for months of constant negotiations between May and EU leaders or abandon from the EU on the UK's scheduled departure date of October 31 without a deal.
If the negotiation to bring a new deal with the EU fails, Johnson has said that he will force Brexit to pass by the scheduled date. He has refused to rule out the shutdown of Parliament in order to do so. However, the EU leaders have frequently ruled out renegotiating the withdrawal agreement and alerted Johnson of the difficult times ahead.
Updated 23:21 IST, September 9th 2019