UK's Johnson wins Queen's approval to suspend Parliament ahead of Brexit
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson maneuvered on Wednesday to give his political opponents even less time to block a no-deal Brexit before the October 31 withdrawal deadline, winning Queen Elizabeth II's approval to suspend Parliament. His critics were outraged.
Though Johnson previously had refused to rule out such a move, the timing of the decision took lawmakers many of whom are on vacation by surprise.
Lawmakers reacted with fury, including John Bercow, speaker of the lower House of Commons, who was not told in advance of Johnson's plan.
“Shutting down Parliament would be an offense against the democratic process and the rights of parliamentarians as the people's elected representatives,” Bercow said. “Surely at this early stage in his premiership, the prime minister should be seeking to establish rather than undermine his democratic credentials and indeed his commitment to Parliamentary democracy.”
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The main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote to the queen to protest “in the strongest possible terms on behalf of my party and I believe all the other opposition parties are going to join in with this.”
But the monarch declined to get involved, in keeping with her steadfast refusal to interfere in politics. As head of state, she is politically neutral and acts on the advice of her government in political matters.
The House of Commons will convene from September 3-10 and then was scheduled to go on a break until October 9 though lawmakers had suggested they might cancel that break and stay in session because of the national crisis. But Johnson said he has decided to ask the queen to give her speech that outlines the government's legislative agenda on October 14.