John Bercow Speaker of the House of Commons has warned Dominic Raab, the Conservative Party leadership contender, that he would not allow him to shelve Parliament in an attempt to force a no-deal Brexit, according to the Huffington Post.
Mr Bercow has confirmed to MPs that “Parliament will not be evacuated from the centre stage of the decision making process on this important matter” following Mr Raab’s suggestion to “prorogue” the Commons in order to stop MPs forcing the government to delay Brexit if he becomes prime minister.
Mr Bercow added: “That simply was not going to happen it’s just so blindly obvious.”
One of Mr Raab’s rivals for the leadership, Rory Stewart, said any move to shut parliament would be potentially “illegal”. He told ITV “It would be unconstitutional. It would be undemocratic. And it wouldn’t work.”
Amber Rudd, the Secretary for Work and Pensions told reporters in Westminster: “I think it’s outrageous to consider proroguing Parliament. We’re not Stuart kings.”
This uproar began when Michael Gove presented himself as the liberal Tory leadership candidate who would be prepared to further delay Brexit. At an event in Westminster, he said: “The critical thing to do is to recognise that if we’re not 100% out by midnight on October 31 then we risk making that arbitrary deadline the determinant of what a good deal is.” He argued as Britain was closer to a better deal then “it would be right to take those extra few days or weeks in order to land it and to make sure that we’re out.”
However, Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May, has pledged to take the UK out of the EU on October 31 with or without a deal. On Wednesday evening, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told a leadership husting that parliament would block a no-deal Brexit; the Tories would need a leader who could negotiate a better agreement.
Picture: Sky News
