MPs back Boris Johnson over planned suspension of parliament

MPs from the New Forest and Christchurch have enthusiastically backed the Prime Minister’s controversial suspension of parliament in the run-up to Brexit.

Boris Johnson today (Wednesday) gained approval from the Queen to end the current parliamentary session early in September and reconvene on 14th October – less than three weeks before Brexit day on 31st October.

The move was condemned by House of Commons Speaker John Bercow as a “constitutional outrage” and opponents accused Mr Johnson of using the five-week gap to limit MPs’ ability to stop a no-deal departure from the EU.

But local MPs Sir Desmond Swayne, Sir Chris Chope and Julian Lewis welcomed the announcement to prorogue – or shut down – parliament and claimed it had nothing to do with Brexit.

Pro-Leave Sir Desmond, Conservative MP for New Forest West, told the A&T: “I am very much in favour of it. This parliamentary session has lasted well over two years. Normally it would not go for a year.

“It’s entirely appropriate for a new Prime Minister to set out his Queen’s Speech which requires parliament to be prorogued. This is entirely normal.

“Three sitting days are going to be lost. There will be plenty of time for all those seeking to prevent Brexit to carry on with their machinations.”

Guidance by the House of Commons library said that in the last 40 years parliament has never been prorogued for longer than three weeks, and in most cases for only a week or less.

Sir Desmond was one of the first to raise the tactic of proroguing when in January he teased then Prime Minister Theresa May in the Commons that it was “tempting” to suspend parliament “to guarantee Brexit”.

Cllr Jack Davies, recently selected as the Liberal Democrats’ prospective parliamentary candidate to fight Sir Desmond for the New Forest West seat, described the Prime Minister’s move as “madness”.

He said: “Boris Johnson wants to suspend parliament to force through leaving the European Union without a deal. Don’t let this be the day democracy died.”

But Sir Desmond accused Mr Johnson’s critics of spouting “hot air” and that it would send a “powerful signal” to the EU that the government was serious about leaving on 31st October. That would encourage it to offer better terms, he believed.

Although Sir Desmond wanted a deal with the EU, he said a no-deal Brexit would be worth it to leave. But added: “It would be less than optimal. It would be disruptive in the short term but in the long term it would be a tragedy for 40% of our trade to go back to tariffs.”

Parliament comes back from the current summer break next Tuesday with Mr Johnson intending to close the current parliamentary session, which has lasted since June 2017, during the following week, on a day to be announced.

Traditionally parliamentarians already have three weeks off for party conference season in the last two weeks of September and first week of October.

Proroguing parliament will require a Queen’s Speech setting out the government’s policy list for a new session.

Sir Chris, the pro-Brexit Tory MP for Christchurch, said: “I think it’s brilliant. It makes a lot of common sense. This session of parliament needs to be brought to an end.

“The 14th October gives everyone the opportunity to have their say on Brexit and where we are vis-a-vis the negotiations and leaving, with or without a deal.”

He added: “This is constitutional. What’s unconstitutional is extending a session of parliament to avoid a Queen’s Speech.”

Fellow Brexiter Julian Lewis, Tory MP for New Forest East, said: “For the past three years, Remainers who do not accept the referendum result have tried every trick in the book to reverse it.

“Now that they are getting a taste of their own medicine, they whinge and whine about a ‘constitutional outrage’.

"In fact, the only reason that we are due to leave the EU, with or without a deal, on 31 October is that MPs voted by more than three-to-one in 2017 to trigger Article 50 unconditionally – so they have only themselves to blame.”

He added: “Parliament has debated this subject to death over the past three years, and requires no more time to do so further.

“The real reason why the Remainers are upset is that their time to implement further schemes for delay and obstruction will be limited by this overdue ending of an over-long parliamentary session.”

Announcing his plan in a letter to MPs on Wednesday morning, Mr Johnson said he intended to introduce a “new bold and ambitious domestic legislative agenda for the renewal of our country after Brexit”.