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Politics

28th Aug 2019

British government to ask Queen to suspend Parliament weeks before Brexit deadline

Rudi Kinsella

brexit queen parliament

News of the move has already prompted a massive reaction in the UK.

The Queen will be asked by the British government to suspend parliament days after MPs return to work early next month and only weeks before the Brexit deadline.

According to Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor, Boris Johnson intends to ask the Queen to suspend Parliament shortly after the House returns on 3 September, less than two months before Britain’s scheduled exit from the European Union on 31 October.

Kuenssberg says the move will make way for Boris Johnson’s administration to hold a Queen’s Speech outlining the government’s future plans on 14 October, just over two weeks before the Brexit deadline.

This means that MPs are less likely to have time to pass any laws that could stop Britain’s prime minster taking the UK out of the European Union without a deal.

It also means that MPs intent on avoiding a no-deal Brexit will now be even more determined to block a new deal as soon as possible following the return of the House next week.

Only a small number of government ministers are believed to have known about plans to ask the Queen to suspend Parliament before the news broke on Wednesday morning; the development is set to cause ructions in the House of Commons as a result.

A source told the BBC: “It’s time a new government and new PM set out a plan for the country after we leave the EU.”

Boris Johnson has said in the past that he wants to leave the EU with a deal, but that the situation is now “do or die” and he is willing to leave without one rather than miss the deadline.

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