Boris Johnson planning to suspend parliament a second time
Boris Johnson’s desire for a “Queen’s Speech” to layout his agenda has led to him planning to suspend parliament for a second time despite his first attempt being found unlawful.
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Boris Johnson is planning to suspend parliament for a second time despite his first attempt being found unlawful in the UK Supreme Court.
Showing no sign of backing down, Mr Johnson has been drawing up plans to prorogue, or suspend, parliament again.
He wants a new Queen’s speech, which is the traditional opening of a parliament that lays out the government’s agenda.
Mr Johnson said last night: “I will be informing [MPs] as soon as we have assessed the meaning of the court’s ruling.”
He was also considering bringing in a “one line bill” to change the law on how elections are called in the UK to get a snap poll to get rid of a “zombie” parliament intent on blocking Brexit.
The Prime Minister has shrugged off the embarrassing Supreme Court loss where he was found to have misled the Queen on the advice he gave her to suspend parliament.
In a blistering performance in the House of Commons early yesterday (Australian time), Mr Johnson turned the tables on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn demanding he call an election.
He claimed that Labour, and opposition MPs including some of his former colleagues, wanted to stop Britain leaving the European Union at all.
“This parliament will keep delaying, will keep sabotaging negotiations because they don’t want a deal,” he said.
“The electorate are being held captive by this zombie parliament and this zombie opposition.
“And he (Corbyn) wants the entire country to be held captive in the EU after October 31 at a cost of more than £1 billion a month.
“We say no, I say no! Let’s get Brexit done and let’s take this country forward.”
Conservative MPs clapped Mr Johnson after his speech, one of his highlights since coming into the job after losing six consecutive votes in the House of Commons since he was appointed.
Downing Street challenged Labour and opposition parties to call an election, saying that if they did not Mr Johnson would take it as an endorsement of his plans to deliver Brexit on October 31 without a deal.
A no-deal Brexit would cause medicine and food shortages in the UK and hurt European economies as well, particularly Ireland.
Mr Johnson’s team, including those behind the disastrous suspension of parliament, were planning to get creative again to force an election.
The Fixed Term Parliaments Act requires two thirds of MPs to vote to call an election, which is usually every five years.
But scrapping the law with a “one-line bill” would mean Mr Johnson only needs half of the votes in the house, which he might have the numbers to win.
Mr Johnson has lost his majority in parliament after he sacked 21 MPs for voting against a no-deal Brexit.
However, Mr Johnson is leading by as much as 15 points in the published polls, as Labour voters defect to the Liberal Democrats because of concerns about Mr Corbyn’s hard left wing policies and dithering on Brexit.
He claimed that the events in parliament had made it more difficult to negotiate a deal with the EU, which he will have to secure before a summit on October 17 to avoid being forced to ask for more time under a new emergency law.
Mr Corbyn said Mr Johnson’s statement was “10 minutes of bluster from a dangerous Prime Minister who thinks he is above the law”.
He added: “In truth, he is not fit for the office that he holds.”
Mr Corbyn, who refused to call an election until a no-deal Brexit was off the table, said the Government was “failing the people of Britain and the people of Britain know it”.
stephen.drill@news.co.uk
Originally published as Boris Johnson planning to suspend parliament a second time