Petition against Boris’ plan to prorogue Parliament signed by over a million desperate Remainers
MORE than a million desperate Remainers have signed a petition against Boris Johnson’s plan to SUSPEND Parliament.
Thousands of angry anti-Brexit protesters staged a mass demonstration in Westminster last night with smaller rallies held across the country.
The e-petition on Parliament’s website gained the 100,000 signatures needed for it to be debated by MPs in just a few hours, and now has more than 1,320,000.
The Queen approved the PM’s request to prorogue Parliament and stop Jeremy Corbyn’s plan to block a No Deal exit from the EU, yesterday afternoon.
ANTI-BREXIT PETITION
Her Majesty met with members of Privy Council, including Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, in Balmoral and the suspension – to take place between September 9 to October 14 – was given the green light.
Boris’ bold move to block MPs from sitting in Parliament for around five weeks over conference season will give Remainers less time to launch new plots to stop us leaving on October 31.
MPs would come back for a Queen’s Speech on October 14 under the plans, just two weeks before we’re due to leave the EU.
That would leave just days for a possible vote of no confidence in Boris, or for rebel MPs to pass a law to push back the Brexit date.
The anti-Brexit petitioners claim Parliament “must not be prorogued or dissolved unless and until the Article 50 period has been sufficiently extended or the UK’s intention to withdraw from the EU has been cancelled”.
Legal challenges against Mr Johnson’s decision are mounting, with separate bids launched in London and Edinburgh courts seeking an emergency injunction to prevent Parliament being suspended.
REMAINER PROTESTS
It comes as impromptu protests sprung up across the UK in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester, Bristol, Cambridge and Durham against the move.
But Commons leader Jacob Rees Mogg blasted the petition and said it didn’t mean anything compared to the historic Brexit vote in 2016.
He said this morning: “A million people may have signed a petition, but 17million went out to the ballot box to vote to leave.”
The MP for North East Somerset also dismissed the protest across the country.
He told GMB: “I think the outrage is phoney and it is created by people who don’t want us to leave the European Union and are trying very hard to overturn the referendum result and don’t want the benefits of leaving the European Union.”
“Parliament wasn’t going to be sitting for most of this time anyway. This is completely constitutional and proper.”
Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is expected to resign on Thursday, in part due to opposition to Mr Johnson’s Brexit strategy, although sources say she will also cite personal reasons for her decision.
Barrister Tom Hickman tweeted that anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller “has issued proceedings to challenge prorogation. Mishcon de Reya, Lord Pannick QC, Warren Fitt and me acting”.
Speaking to BBC News, Ms Miller said the PM was “hijacking the Queen’s prerogative power” and using it for “unscrupulous means”.
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In 2016, Ms Miller launched a successful legal bid, with judges ruling that MPs would have to vote before the Government could invoke Article 50 to formally start the UK’s exit process from the EU.
A separate bid has been launched by pro-Remain barrister Jo Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, who has filed a motion asking the Scottish Court of Session to suspend the PM request that Parliament be prorogued.
Former Tory prime minister Sir John Major also said on Wednesday he is seeking advice on the legality of Mr Johnson proroguing Parliament.
How will Boris shut down Parliament, and what does it mean?
BORIS Johnson has announced he will prorogue – or suspend – Parliament from the middle of September until just a few weeks before the Brexit deadline of October 31.
Remainers are furious at the PM’s move because it means they have a very short amount of time to mount a credible legal challenge against No Deal.
Proroguing sees the end of a parliamentary session – no matter what is being debated.
If the Commons is dissolved any bill that is currently being discussed or has not been properly answered will not progress.
MPs are currently in recess – meaning Parliament isn’t sitting – which makes it harder for Remainers to push through anti-Brexit legislation or use obscure Parliamentary tricks to block our divorce from Brussels.
This means Boris could send MPs away and stop them holding up Brexit.
The PM has also announced that a Queen’s Speech – which marks the opening of a session of Parliament – will be held on October 14.
The speech is a list of laws the government plans to get approved over the year – for Boris this could include a number of policy changes he hopes will win him voters in the case of an election.
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