U.K.'s Boris Johnson moves to suspend Parliament ahead of Brexit

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday to suspend Parliament, a maneuver that outraged his critics because it will give the opposition even less time to block a no-deal Brexit before the scheduled Oct. 31 withdrawal.

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.”

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.”

The House of Commons will convene from Sept. 3-10 and then was scheduled to go on a break until Oct. 9 — though lawmakers had suggested they might cancel that break and stay at the House of Commons 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 Oct. 14.

Since Parliament is normally suspended before her speech, the decision means opposition lawmakers would be unlikely to have enough time to pass laws blocking the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union without a negotiated deal on Oct. 31.