Hello Europe Podcast Podcast

UK: another decisive week on Brexit

A decisive week is preparing for the United Kingdom. After the announcement by the new Prime Minister Boris Johnson that he was going to suspend Parliament for five weeks, the opposition is taking shape. Whether on the street or in the House of Commons. What were the reactions after Boris Johnson's decision to suspend Parliament?

There were several impromptu demonstrations in the hours and days following this announcement. Londoners sometimes found themselves by the hundreds in front of Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister, as well as in front of Parliament. A major event is also expected today to challenge once again the decision of the Prime Minister to suspend Parliament to prevent members can prevent a Brexit without agreement to pass.

Opposition MPs and rebel Conservative MPs also expressed themselves quite loudly, some by resigning, as was the case with Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservative Party; others by taking part in the various legal actions launched to prevent the suspension of Parliament.

Former Prime Minister John Major also joined the movement, which is hoping to challenge in several courts the Prime Minister's decision to suspend parliament for five weeks, just before the deadline of 31 October, when the United Kingdom United will have to leave the EU. The judges will have to make their decision over the next few days, but for the deputies and lawyers in charge of these cases, Boris Johnson's decision is undemocratic and unconstitutional and must be revoked.

But now that the Queen has approved the suspension of Parliament, do opposition MPs still have a chance to prevent a no-deal ?

So it will be very difficult for them to organize a parliamentary appeal. They had planned earlier this month to pass a vote of no confidence to force Boris Johnson to hold new elections. But such a vote requires fourteen days of preparation, which is no longer feasible.

It will still remain seven working days between the resumption of parliamentary sessions on September 3 and the date on which the suspension must be effective, September 9. After that, the deputies should be able to sit between 14 October and 31 October, ie twelve days, before a Brexit without agreement is proclaimed at 11 pm London time on 31 October.

So there is very little time left, and the only scenario that still stands still is to seize the legislative agenda of the House of Commons. Opponents of Johnson could set up an emergency procedure next Tuesday that the Speaker of the House of Commons will surely accept since he described Boris Johnson's decision as " constitutional contempt ".

Can we expect a real constitutional crisis between the government and parliamentarians ?

Well, it's likely because we clearly have two camps that oppose each other and clash in the courts. On the one hand, Boris Johnson, who is afraid of having no majority in the House of Commons, neither for an agreement nor for a non-agreement, and who therefore wants to limit as much as possible the veto power of Parliament. On the other side, opposition MPs, but also rebel Conservative MPs, who intend to use emergency procedures as well as the courts and street pressure to prevent the Johnson government from forcing the country to a Brexit hard.

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