Queen Elizabeth is reported to have approved the move by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to suspend Parliament, even with the general public outcry, especially from Lawmakers.
According to the report by CNN, the Privy Council, a body of senior politicians who act as the Queen’s official advisers who is currently on holiday in Scotland, requested Wednesday that the Queen “prorogues,” or suspends, Parliament.
The report states that a statement from the Privy Council said that the Queen has approved the suspension of Parliament “no earlier than Monday 9th September and no later than Thursday 12th September” until October 14, which is some weeks before the Brexit deadline.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier on Wednesday 28th August 2019, was reported to have requested for a suspension of Parliament, so that his government can deliver a Queen’s Speech on October 14, which lays out the government’s agenda for the parliamentary session.
The suspension of Parliament will shorten the number of time Members of Parliament have to attempt to block a no-deal Brexit before the current deadline. Johnson has said Britain will leave the EU on October 31, with or without a deal.
The announcement by PM Boris Johnson saw Lawmakers reacting with fury, including John Bercow, speaker of the lower House of Commons, who was not told in advance of Johnson’s plan.
“Shutting down Parliament would be an offence against the democratic process and the rights of parliamentarians as the people’s elected representatives,” Bercow said.
“Surely at this early stage in his premiership, the prime minister should be seeking to establish rather than undermine his democratic credentials and indeed his commitment to Parliamentary democracy.”
The main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote to the queen to protest “in the strongest possible terms on behalf of my party and I believe all the other opposition parties are going to join in with this.”
The House of Commons will convene from Sept. 3-10 and then was scheduled to go on a break until Oct. 9 — though lawmakers had suggested they might cancel that break and stay at the House of
Commons because of the national crisis. But Johnson said he has decided to ask the queen to give her speech that outlines the government’s legislative agenda on Oct. 14.
Since Parliament is normally suspended before her speech, the decision means opposition lawmakers would be unlikely to have enough time to pass laws blocking the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union without a negotiated deal on Oct. 31.