UK Government to ask Queen to suspend Parliament

(BBC) – The Queen will be asked by the government to suspend Parliament just days after MPs return to work in September – and only a few weeks before the Brexit deadline.

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says it will make way for Boris Johnson’s new administration to hold a Queen’s Speech – laying out the government’s plans – on 14 October.

But it means MPs are unlikely to have time to pass any laws that could stop the prime minister taking the UK out of the EU without a deal on 31 October.

Tory backbencher and Remain campaigner Dominic Grieve called it “an outrageous act”, and warned it could lead to a vote of no confidence in Mr Johnson, adding: “This government will come down.”

But a No 10 source defended the move, saying: “It’s time a new government and new PM set out a plan for the country after we leave the EU.”

The idea of shutting down Parliament – known as prorogation – has caused controversy, with critics saying it would stop MPs being able to play their democratic part in the Brexit process.

Laura Kuenssberg said only a small number of government ministers knew about the plan before its announcement and it would inevitably cause a huge row.

She said the government would argue it was “a bog standard Queen’s Speech process”, despite all of the surrounding noise.

‘Utterly scandalous’

Mr Johnson says he wants to leave the EU on 31 October with a deal, but it is “do or die” and he is willing to leave without one rather than miss the deadline.

That position has prompted a number of opposition MPs to come together to try to block a possible no deal, and on Tuesday they announced that they intended to use parliamentary process to do so.

But if Parliament is suspended on 10 September, as is suggested, it will only give them a few days next week to push for their changes.

Mr Grieve – a former attorney general – told BBC Radio 5 Live: “If the prime minister persists with this and doesn’t back off, then I think the chances are that his administration will collapse.

“There is plenty of time to do that if necessary [and] I will certainly vote to bring down a Conservative government that persists in a course of action which is so unconstitutional.”

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson tweeted that the move was an “utterly scandalous affront to our democracy”.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said MPs must come together to stop the plan next week, or “today will go down in history as a dark one indeed for UK democracy”.

But Conservative Party Chairman James Cleverly defended the plan as what “all new governments do”.

Parliament returns from summer recess – or break – next week and another recess was expected to take place later in September to cover the political conference season, although there were rumours the latter could be cancelled or shortened to keep business going in the run-up to Brexit.

Prorogation in a nutshell

Parliament is normally suspended – or prorogued – for a short period before a new session begins. It is done by the Queen, on the advice of the prime minister.

Parliamentary sessions normally last a year, but the current one has been going on for more than two years – ever since the June 2017 election.

When Parliament is prorogued, no debates and votes are held – and most laws that haven’t completed their passage through Parliament die a death.

This is different to “dissolving” Parliament – where all MPs give up their seats to campaign in a general election.