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U.K.’s Boris Johnson Seeks Suspension of Parliament Ahead of Brexit

Parliament could be prorogued between Sept. 11 to Oct. 14 under Boris Johnson’s plan.

U.K.’s Boris Johnson Seeks Suspension of Parliament Ahead of Brexit
Boris Johnson, U.K. prime minister, listens beside Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, not pictured, during a news conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. (Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) --

Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked Queen Elizabeth II to suspend the U.K. Parliament from mid-September to mid-October -- a move that could hamper lawmakers’ efforts to block a no-deal Brexit and even trigger a constitutional crisis. The pound dropped.

“This is a new government with a very exciting agenda,” Johnson said in a pooled TV interview. “We need new legislation, we’ve got to be bringing forward new and important bills and that’s why we’re going to have a Queen’s Speech and we’re going to do it on Oct. 14.”

Under the plan, all legislative business would be suspended from Sept. 12, a U.K. official said, until the Queen’s Speech on Oct. 14 kicks off a new session of Parliament. Johnson said he is not seeking a general election and there will be “ample time” for lawmakers to debate Brexit. The timing means Parliament will resume days before a crucial European Union summit on Brexit scheduled on Oct. 17-18.

But while Johnson said it is normal for a new government to want to press ahead with its own agenda with a Queen’s Speech, the timing is deeply controversial. The premier has pledged to take the U.K. out of the EU on Oct. 31 without a divorce deal if necessary, the scenario most feared by businesses and opposed by a substantial number of British lawmakers who planned to use the next few weeks in Parliament to try to prevent it.

U.K.’s Boris Johnson Seeks Suspension of Parliament Ahead of Brexit

Johnson’s team see it as a “useful political side effect” of the suspension that it would deny time to lawmakers mobilizing to stop a no-deal Brexit, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg said on Twitter.

The pound fell as much as 1.1% against the dollar, the most in a month, as traders perceived an increased risk of a no-deal split.

Parliament is due to return on Sept. 3, and was only going to sit for two weeks before taking a three-week recess to allow MPs to go to their annual party conferences. That would have seen it returning on Oct. 7. But Johnson’s delay will buy him more than a week. A Queen’s Speech is usually followed by four or five days of debate.

MPs who oppose a no-deal Brexit have feared Johnson would attempt to stop them meeting, and won’t take it lying down. Some have talked of simply continuing to meet in another building, and defying ministers. Parliament has also passed measures aimed at forcing the government to let it meet.

They could still move against Johnson next week, possibly with a vote of no confidence. But even that could be difficult, according to Martyn Atkins, a parliamentary clerk. If the Queen has already agreed to suspend parliament, he said on Twitter, that would still apply, meaning rebels would have until the suspension date to form a new government.

‘Deeply Questionable’

“The prime minister’s decision is deeply questionable and frankly pretty outrageous,” Dominic Grieve, one of the Conservatives trying to stop a no-deal Brexit, told the BBC. “It’s a deliberate attempt to make sure that Parliament doesn’t sit for a five-week period.”

Johnson’s opponents hadn’t wanted to use a no-confidence vote, instead preferring to try to pass a law that would compel the prime minister to seek a Brexit extension. But Grieve said they might now have no choice, and that Parliament’s return next week would see moves to stop the government, including probably a vote of no confidence.

In a sign of the likely legal battles to come, attorney Jolyon Maugham -- who spearheaded a landmark case that led the EU’s top court to rule that Britain can reverse the Brexit process if it chooses -- said on Twitter he is seeking an interim judicial order to prevent Parliament from being suspended.

‘Outrage’

Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, who has previously said he would fight any attempt to suspend Parliament, called it a “constitutional outrage.”

“However it is dressed up, it is blindingly obvious that the purpose of prorogation now would be to stop Parliament debating Brexit and performing its duty in shaping a course for the country,” Bercow said in a statement, released to the Press Association newswire. “At this time, it is vital that our elected Parliament has its say. After all, we live in a parliamentary democracy.”

The decision to suspend Parliament will be confirmed by the privy council -- a group of senior politicians who advise the monarch -- at the Queen’s Balmoral residence in Scotland on Wednesday, the BBC reported. The BBC also said the Cabinet would hold a conference call on Wednesday.

‘Concentrate Power’

“Boris Johnson is trying to use the Queen to concentrate power in his own hands -- this is a deeply dangerous and irresponsible way to govern,” Yvette Cooper, a Labour MP who also chairs Parliament’s home affairs committee, said on Twitter.

Johnson said during his leadership campaign that he was not “remotely attracted” to the idea of suspending Parliament to deliver Brexit, though he refused to rule out doing so.

A major speech by Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid, scheduled for Wednesday, was canceled at short notice on Tuesday afternoon, suggesting there may have been a sudden shift in the strategy of Johnson’s team.

“I rely on parliamentarians to do the right thing and honor the pledge that they made to the people of this country,” Johnson told reporters on Monday.

--With assistance from Jessica Shankleman.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Thomas Penny

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