Tag Archives: proroguing parliament

Lord William Wallace

Lord William Wallace writes: How do we renew our battered democracy?

By Lord William Wallace | Tue 24th September 2019 - 1:30 pm

This is as huge a constitutional crisis as anyone could imagine. A Prime Minister without a parliamentary majority has attempted to avoid parliamentary scrutiny by closing Parliament for all but the last two weeks before we are due to leave the EU, with or without a deal.

The Supreme Court has defended the sovereignty of Parliament against a Prime Minister who lacks a parliamentary majority. Lady Hale’s judgement was very firm: ‘the effect on the fundamental democracy of our country is extreme’. Parliamentary accountability – the continuing process of dialogue and scrutiny of government policy – is ‘at the heart …

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The Voice

Swinson: Parliament should be sitting so we can question PM

By The Voice | Tue 24th September 2019 - 11:45 am

Responding to the Supreme Court ruling that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks was unlawful, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson said:

The court have found what we all knew all along, Boris Johnson has again proven he is not fit to be Prime Minister.

This shutdown was an unlawful act designed to stop Parliament doing its job and holding the Government to account. Given this verdict, Parliament should be sitting so that we can continue to question the Conservative Government on their disastrous Brexit plans.

This verdict has been unanimously agreed by experienced judges who have considered the

…

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Mark Valladares

9 September 2019 – today’s press release

By Mark Valladares | Tue 10th September 2019 - 12:13 am

Lib Dem Lords Leader boycotts Parliament shutdown

Today, Lib Dem Leader in the Lords, Dick Newby, and the Labour Lords Leader, Angela Smith, have refused to participate in the Royal Commission that will prorogue Parliament.

In addition to this, Liberal Democrat peers will boycott the House during the ceremony which shuts down Parliament.

Speaking ahead of the shutdown, Liberal Democrat Leader in the Lords, Dick Newby, said:

The attempt to shut down Parliament by Boris Johnson is authoritarian and anti-democratic. The fact that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom wants to silence the people and their representatives shows that Boris Johnson will pursue

…

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Paul Walter

More photos from #StopTheCoup protests across the country

By Paul Walter | Sat 31st August 2019 - 5:00 pm

The range of large protests across the country today is incredible. It is particularly heartening to see Lib Dems marching alongside those from other parties and none.

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Paul Walter

And there’s more! #StopTheCoup protest photos from across the country part 3

By Paul Walter | Sat 31st August 2019 - 4:40 pm

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Paul Walter

“If Clitheroe is protesting it must be bad!!!” – Lib Dems join #StopTheCoup protests across the country

By Paul Walter | Sat 31st August 2019 - 4:00 pm

Here are a selection of photos from Lib Dems joining #StopTheCoup protests across the country today:

https://twitter.com/LibDemLou/status/1167808409263050752

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Paul Walter

Jo Swinson joins Judicial Review of prorogation launched by Gina Miller, with Sir John Major and Tom Watson

By Paul Walter | Sat 31st August 2019 - 9:40 am

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Leader of the Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson has added her name to the legal challenge from Gina Miller aimed to prevent Boris Johnson from suspending Parliament. This follows yesterday’s High Court announcement that the case would be considered.

Jo Swinson said:

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Bernard Aris

How Continental Europeans view proroguing Parliament and abandoning EU inhabitants of the UK

By Bernard Aris | Fri 30th August 2019 - 3:09 pm

In my earlier June 17th LDV piece on the concept of proroguing Parliament I reminded readers that the last person on the continent trying to disband a sitting EU parliament was the fascist colonel Tejero who in February 1981 entered the plenary session of the Cortes to disband at gunpoint the Spanish parliament finishing Spain’s transition to a full constitutional democracy.

To give you a flavour of how proroguing is seen here, a small list of continental heads of government who disbanded parliament to get their way without hindrance:

Napoleon in 1799 fled Egypt to conduct a Paris military coup (with grenadiers intimidating parliamentarians in their session) on “18-19 Brumaire” (November) to make himself “First Consul” under a constitution without Civil Rights. Making his brother king of the Dutch vassal “Batavian Republic” in 1806, he eliminated the last vestiges of its parliament. And Napoleon’s nephew in 1851 did the same with the French parliament, eliciting the famous  Karl Marx pamphlet.

Mussolini grabbed power from a string of Liberal governments in 1922, and in combination with conservative politicians had a law adopted in 1923 by a divided parliament giving him an absolute majority after the 1924 elections. The Socialist MP Mateotti protesting over electoral fraud was immediately killed.

These examples give you a picture of how “positive” prorogation is seen on the continent.

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Paul Walter

Please sign the petition against proroguing Parliament

By Paul Walter | Wed 28th August 2019 - 6:32 pm

Earlier today, I signed the petition against proroguing parliament and about 150,000 people had also signed it. I’ve just looked and now 604,612 people have signed – and it’s going up all the time! (P.S As I published this post it had gone up to 622,453)

Please do sign the petition here – it just takes a few seconds.

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Paul Walter

Jo Swinson joins 120+ MPs in signing Church House Declaration to defy Johnson attempts to close Parliament

By Paul Walter | Tue 27th August 2019 - 4:31 pm

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From The Guardian’s Ben Quinn:

Boris Johnson was described as a threat to the very nature of British democracy at a cross party meeting of MPs who signed a pledge to an alternative parliament in the event of the prime minister shutting down parliament to make a no deal Brexit happen.

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Paul Walter

Closing Parliament to force no deal would be an outrage

By Paul Walter | Mon 26th August 2019 - 12:00 pm

You may have seen reports that Boris Johnson is considering closing Parliament for six weeks in order to block MPs from extending Article 50 for a further period.

Our Shadow Brexit Secretary Tom Brake remarked on this yesterday:

If Boris Johnson can find a kooky or irregular way to shut Parliament out of the Brexit process it will be an outrage.

No deal will destroy our economy, it will have a dramatic impact on the cost of living and it will mean less access to medicines that keep people alive. Parliament must be able to challenge Ministers on the damage it will cause.

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