SA国际传媒

By SA国际传媒

Political opposition to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's move to suspend Parliament crystalized Thursday amid protests, legal action and a petition to block the move which has gathered more than 1 million signatures.

The government on Wednesday formally requested Queen Elizabeth to bring the current Parliament session to an end in September. Opposition lawmakers contend that he wants to limit the ability of lawmakers to come up with legislation to block a no-deal Brexit.

Johnson's maneuver gives his political opponents even less time to prevent a no-deal Brexit before the Oct. 31 withdrawal deadline. But the decision outraged critics and is serving as a unifying force for the disparate opposition, who have confirmed they will press on with measures to block a departure from the European Union without a deal despite Johnson's actions.

Johnson has insisted that the decision to prorogue parliament was a means of putting forward the agenda for his new government: 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to wait til October the 31^st before getting on with our plans to take this country forward.鈥� He said, 鈥淭o do that, we need new legislation, we鈥檝e got to be bringing forward new and important bills, and that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e going to have a Queen鈥檚 Speech, and we鈥檙e going to do it on October 14^th.鈥�

However, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, John Bercow, said that was a constitutional outrage as it limited the time the 800-year-old heart of English democracy has to debate and shape the course of British history.

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour party, similarly attacked the move: 鈥淚鈥檝e protested on the very strongest possible terms, on behalf of my party, and I believe all the other opposition parties are going to join in with this, and simply saying that suspending parliament is not acceptable. It鈥檚 not on.鈥� He said that when Parliament does meet ahead in the first week of September, 鈥渢he first thing we鈥檒l do is attempt legislation to prevent what he鈥檚 doing, secondly, we鈥檒l challenge him on a motion of confidence at some point.鈥�

Johnson鈥檚 formal request to prorogue Parliament was approved by the Queen on Wednesday. Members of Parliament will return to the assembly next week, meeting for just a few days before the session is closed, on a date between 9-12 September. It will then be suspended from for five weeks, with MPs returning on October 14 for the Queen鈥檚 Speech.