CNN reports that Corbyn will call for a “vote of confidence” (is that the same as a vote of no confidence?). Prime Minister Boris Johnson asks Queen to suspend UK Parliament ahead of Brexit
EDIT: Thanks for the answers to my questions!
CNN reports that Corbyn will call for a “vote of confidence” (is that the same as a vote of no confidence?). Prime Minister Boris Johnson asks Queen to suspend UK Parliament ahead of Brexit
EDIT: Thanks for the answers to my questions!
The Queen can certainly say no and insert herself into politics, but in doing so she couldn’t really remain as Queen.
What may be quite amusing is imaging what Corbyn is thinking regarding that. He’d both love and hate the Queen saying “no”. I wouldn’t put it past him to egg her on and then use it as a reason for binning her.
The Queen has said yes to suspending Parliament:
Why not suspend until November 1 to make absolutely sure Parliament can do nothing?
Maybe it’s to make sure that they don’t consider a bold move like calling on the Queen to resist suspension (and thus more possible that she would have acceded since it would not look like a power grab)? Now there is a fig leaf of a few weeks to try to work out a deal without such a constitutional crisis even if it isn’t likely.
Thought of another one. He might give such a short time frame because only one of two things could reasonably happen: a hard Brexit or another delay, both of which Parliament as a whole would take the blame for rather than Johnson.
I’m very much not in-the-know here but the speculation I have read is that he can present an alternative to a Hard Brexit and there will be no time to consider anything else. Gives him tremendous power to get his favorite “slightly less-bad catastrophe” plan through.
That might be seen as a bridge too far, particularly as some current cabinet members denounced such a possibility when they were fighting over the party leadership. This way the PM can point out that it’s merely a slightly longer break than Parliament always takes around the autumn for the party conference season.
You know what comes back into play after a prorogation? Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement, that’s what.
After several failed attempts to pass it in the prior Parliament the Speaker ruled - rightly - that it could not be brought again. When a new Parliament starts up that restriction goes away, and after all it’s the only agreement that the UK .gov and the EU have managed. I wonder how that vote would go on, say, 30th October…
OK, I’m confused again. Last month, MPs voted (by a margin as these things go) to block prorogation to stop this exact situation. Brexit: MPs back bid to block Parliament suspension. I haven’t seen that even mentioned today. Did something change?
No. The Government has worked around the attempted block.
The block takes the form of legislation which, in summary, says:
(This effectively prevents Parliament being prorogued in a way that prevents that debate happening. But Johnson doesn’t intent to prorogue until 9 September or later, so no problem there.)
(But Johnson intends to recall Parliament for 14 October.)
The reason for this gap between the reports is that Parliament was always going to be in recess (not prorogued) in late September anyway, so that MPs could go off and attend their annual party conferences, all of which happen at around this time.
Before TM even put the withdrawal bill to parliament for the first time, I predicted that it would fail and that she would try to run down the clock and that it would pass at the last moment before Brexit Midnight because the alternatives (for both Brexiters and Remainers) were too awful to contemplate. The Brexit delay messed that up. Also the opinions on the backstop became too entrenched to back down from.
I think Johnson is using exactly the same strategy but making super sure that Brexit can’t be delayed again this time. I think he can a whole bunch of moderate remainers and not-quite-mental leavers on board for that.
He can get even more on board if he can persuade the EU to make some cosmetic change to the backstop like: “What if we call it a safety net instead of a backstop?” or “What if we spell it Bakkstop with two Ks?”. That will get a few more Brexiters on board. Enough to pass it.
Johnson will be a hero for saving the nation and he’ll win the next election in a landslide. We’ll all have lashings and lashings of ginger beer on Independence Day. Hoorah!
That has been my prediction for a while and I’m sticking with it.
Thanks for that, UDS. The coverage from last month, even from the BBC, didn’t call this out at all, and the coverage from this week, as far as I’ve seen, doesn’t even refer to last month’s vote.
Was that vote pointless then, or is this partly-constrained prorogue less impactful than it could have been without it?
The vote was not pointless, since it has in fact prevented Johnson from proroguing Parliament immediately, and until after Brexit. (Of course, possibly he wouldn’t have tried to do that anyway.)
This means that Parliament will sit next week, and that presents an opportunity either to vote no confidence in Johnson and attempt to install an altenative government, or to pass legislation intended to impede or prevent a no-deal Brexit on 31 October. So Johnson could yet be stymied.
There is another view, which is that Johnson’t intention all along has been to goad parliament into doing exactly this. He doesn’t want a no-ceal Brexit on 31 October, since that would be ruinous and would be all anyone would ever remember about his (probably very short) stint as PM. But he also doesn’t want to wear the political responisiblity for preventing it. He wants it to be prevented, but by others. I don’t find this view very persuasive, myself, but it’s definitely out there.
Wow John Major’s joined a case trying to stop the prorogation.
Crack open the English sparkling wine! The Brexit Withdrawal Agreement Bill is now law.
And once worker’s rights are no longer protected, you can enjoy that sparkling wine while you’re being vigorously sodomised by wealthy business owners.
Just lie back and think of your sovereignty, I guess.
From your link:
So you’re using two rape analogies for some future possible thing that might happen?
The EU Parliament still has to approve the agreement.
As to Labour rights remember the Labour Party is a very strong supporter of such rights. If the Tories start dismantling them then they will lose substantial numbers of the Labour Brexit supporters who changed their vote to Tory this election.
We already know what the endgame will be.
The trade agreement won’t happen, because… it’s all the EU’s fault. So there will be a no-deal Brexit at the end of year. That’s what the ERG and Johnson have been aiming for all along.
Rees-Mogg, Johnson, and Cummings will be breaking out the vintage champagne (English sparkling wine is only for stooges) on Jan 1 next year.
So what? The Tories have a comfortable majority - more than enough to last them a full parliamentary term. There’s a lot of damage can be done in four or five years.