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Labour, court petitions, millions try to stop Boris Johnson’s Brexit
Political opposition to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's move to suspend Parliament is crystalizing, with protests around Britain and a petition to block the move gaining more than 1.5 million signatures.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Thursday said the opposition will try to stop what he called Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ‘smash-and-grab raid’ against democracy, as courts began hearing petitions against parliament being prorogued ahead of the October 31 Brexit date.
Nearly 1.5 million people signed an online petition against the prorogation that is seen as a ploy by the government to reduce the time available to MPs to legislate to prevent leaving the EU without an agreement on October 31. Johnson has insisted on leaving with or without a deal.
As several protests were announced when parliament resumes on September 3, Corbyn said: “We will be back in parliament on Tuesday to challenge Boris Johnson on what I think is a smash-and-grab raid against our democracy. He’s trying to suspend parliament in order to prevent a serious discussion and a serious debate to prevent a no-deal Brexit. What we’re going to do is try to politically stop him on Tuesday with a parliamentary process in order to legislate to prevent a no-deal Brexit and also to try and prevent him shutting down parliament during this utterly crucial period.” David Gauke, justice secretary in the Theresa May government, joined several senior ruling party figures expressing outrage. The next week is the only opportunity for MPs to act before the UK leaves the EU, he said.
Petitions were filed in courts in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England, including one by Indian-origin anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, who previously succeeded in forcing the government to seek parliamentary approval before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty to leave the EU.
Johnson’s aides called the outrage against the prorogation ‘phoney’, but shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: “I just give Boris Johnson this warning, really. Trying to undermine the very institution that people have given their lives for, to secure this democracy - to try to undermine that flies in the face of a whole history and centuries of democratic advancement in this country. I don’t think the British people will tolerate that. They have stood up to dictators before and they will stand up to this one as well.”
Two senior Conservative figures resigned on Thursday: party leader in Scotland Ruth Davidson, who has been critical of Johnson’s approach to Brexit, and George Young, party whip in the House of Lords. Young said the timing and length of the suspension “risks undermining the fundamental role of Parliament at a critical time in our history”.
However, House of Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, a fervent Brexiteer, insisted that the prorogation was constitutional and proper: “The candyfloss of outrage we’ve had over the last 24 hours... is from people who never wanted to leave the European Union”.
