Brexit: More than 900,000 sign petition demanding Boris Johnson reverse plan to suspend parliament
PM should extend Article 50 again or cancel withdrawal, petitioners say
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More than 900,000 people have signed a petition demanding that Boris Johnson scrap his plan to suspend parliament ahead of Brexit.
The prime minister secured the Queen’s permission to prorogue parliament during September and October at a meeting of the Privy Council in Balmoral on Wednesday.
His move sparked anger among opposition MPs and Remain-supporting Conservatives, with former education secretary Justine Greening condemning it as a “grubby attempt” to force through a no-deal withdrawal.
MPs will not sit between early September and 14 October, when the Queen’s speech is set to take place.
That is just two weeks before the 31 October Brexit deadline, when Mr Johnson has insisted the UK will leave the EU whether or not he has secured a withdrawal deal.
Downing Street said it was normal for parliament not to sit ahead of a Queen’s speech, while Mr Johnson claimed it was “completely untrue” that he was trying to stop MPs blocking a no-deal Brexit.
He said his government needed to “move ahead now with a new legislative agenda”.
The petition reads: “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.”
A number of Mr Johnson’s cabinet members have previously spoken out against proroguing parliament.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, claimed during the Tory leadership campaign that doing so would go against “everything that those men who waded on to those beaches fought and died for” on D-Day.
Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary, said the move would be “outrageous”, adding: “We are not Stuart kings.”
The chancellor, Sajid Javid, said suspending parliament would amount to “trashing democracy”, while Michael Gove, the leading Leave campaigner and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said that “it would not be true to the best traditions of British democracy”.
Nicky Morgan, the culture secretary, called it a “mad suggestion”.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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