Today, the UK government has asked the Queen to suspend Parliament – just days after MPs return to work in September, and, most of all, only a few weeks before the Brexit deadline.
As BBC reports, House Of Commons Speaker Jon Bercow who does not traditionally comment on political announcements, called it an „constitutional outrage“. He said it would be “an offence against the democratic process and the rights of Parliamentarians as the people’s elected representatives“. He added: “Surely at this early stage in his premiership, the prime minister should be seeking to establish rather than undermine his democratic credentials and indeed his commitment to Parliamentary democracy.“ Also senior Tory Dominic Grieve called it an “outrageous act“.
And according to BBC, a number of high profile figures, including former Prime Minister John Major, have threatened to go to the courts to stop it, and a legal challenge led by the Scottish National Party’s justice spokeswoman, Joanna Cherry, is already working its way through the Scottish courts.
Here’s the comment of DiEM25 United Kingdom on this move:
In no other parliamentary democracy in Europe could an un-mandated Prime Minister ‘ask’ an unelected monarch to suspend the activity of an elected, and sovereign, Parliament, in the midst of a political crisis.
This is the ultimate proof of the constitutional nature of this historical crisis. The fact that the Prime Minister can legitimately do it is the ultimate proof that a democratic discussion around the British Constitution that goes beyond Brexit is as urgent as necessary.
All those who want to defend the principles of representative democracy in this country need to be ready to defend the role and prerogatives of the British Parliament, and to mobilise accordingly.
DiEM25 UK condemns the Prime Minister’s move as the most anti democratic action in living memory. We continue to believe that the wisdom to resolve this democratic and constitutional crisis, not just Brexit, is to be found in the proper and energising process of Citizens’ Assemblies.
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