Boris Johnson has confirmed that his Government will shut down Parliament today, Monday, 9 September. This move has caused outrage amongst opposition parties and the general public, with thousands of people protesting in towns and cities across the country when this plan was first announced.
There is a lack of support from many within his own party, with resignations increasing day by day. Amber Rudd MP is the latest cabinet minister to resign, claiming that she no longer believes that the Prime Minister is serious about getting a deal, citing no evidence of real negotiations taking place. She closely follows the Prime Minister’s brother, Joe Johnson MP, who resigned saying that he had to put the National Interest above family loyalty.
These are not the only prominent Conservatives appalled at Boris Johnson’s actions. Former Prime Minister, Sir John Major, said:
“I cannot imagine Mr Disraeli, Mr Gladstone, Mr Churchill or Mrs Thatcher even in their most difficult moments saying let us put parliament aside while I carry through this difficult policy that a part of my party disagrees with.”
Meanwhile, Lord Heseltine has come out with a statement condemning the current Prime Ministers actions.
“The government’s decision to suspend parliament in order to force through a No Deal Brexit is a constitutional outrage. A government which is frightened of parliament is frightened of democracy. I hope that every member of parliament in feeling this humiliation will use every legal and constitutional weapon to obstruct a government proposing to force on the British people a historic change for which they have long since lost any mandate.
“To abandon parliamentary scrutiny is a constitutional affront. My party, the one I have worked for all my life, told the British people about the new role that Britain could play in the world. Britain has helped to change Europe from Fascist and Communist dictatorships to Parliamentary democracies. And now I am told by the leader and the cabinet of that same party that we were all wrong – that we now must become some subordinate vassal state to the United States.
“This is outside anything I could ever have believed that the Conservative party would propose, and I hope that large numbers of Conservatives, as well as friends from other political traditions, will join together to resist it.”
North Yorkshire for Europe 