Government to ask Queen to suspend British Parliament

By Yaw Opoku Amoako August 28, 2019

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.

A No 10 source said: “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.

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Yaw Opoku Amoako

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