British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, requested for Queen Elizabeth II to approve his proposition to prorogue Parliament until October 14th.  As the Queen has no mandate to say no, she signed off on the request.  Though, she could’ve denied it as she does possess the royal prerogative to do so.  Her approval of the prorogation is seen as nothing but a ceremonial step in the process, meaning it was inevitable that Johnson’s wishes were going to be granted. 

The same way the Queen has no mandate to deny the request, Johnson has no democratic mandate to approve it.  Johnson was elected by 92,153 Conservative party members in the race to leadership after Theresa May’s resignation.  This means that not even all of the UK’s Conservative party members voted for notoriously no-deal supporting Johnson, let alone the millions that the British electorate consists of.  He speaks for a minuscule minority of the population, where the opinions and voices of others on the Brexit debate have been completely ignored. 

Why did he do this, especially at a time of national crisis? 

This news of the prorogation of Parliament comes conveniently one day after all of the UK’s opposition leaders announced that they would work together to fight against a no-deal Brexit.  The Brexit deadline is October 31st, and the suspension of Parliament ends of October 14th.  This allows opposition leaders and MPs an extremely short amount of time to debate, scrutinize, and amend Brexit legislation that would halt a no-deal exit.  Which is exactly what Johnson is intending. 

Johnson does not want this discussion to happen, he does not want Parliament to block a no-deal.  Johnson doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, whose Brexit deal was blocked three times.  He does not care that the no-deal Brexit could mean dire and dangerous economic impacts. 

The decisions have caused anger from all points of the political spectrum.  Speaker of the House, John Bercow, dubbed it a “constitutional outrage,” as did Green Party leader Caroline Lucas.  Phillip Hammond, prominent Conservative MP, said it was “profoundly undemocratic to shut Parliament down.”  Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn described the decision as “an outrage and a threat to our democracy.”  There have even been reports that Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, is set to step down and resign following Johnson’s decision. 

Outrage has been caused not only amongst politicians but the people, too.  A petition against proroguing Parliament has gained nearly 800k signatures in less than 24 hours- which is more than the number of votes for Johnson to take the position of Prime Minister. 

The prorogation of Parliament in order to force through a Brexit deal is not an unfamiliar concept.  During the leadership contest earlier this year, contender, Esther McVey, suggested the same idea.  While it is an unpopular and widely disliked idea, it was never impossible or off the table. 

In his campaign to become PM, Johnson promised he would renegotiate May’s deal to get rid of the Irish backstop, despite the EU’s insistence that they would refuse to reopen the withdrawal agreement to negotiation.  Unsurprisingly, they did not allow for Johnson’s promises to be realized.  This means that it’s either letting May’s deal pass before the 31st, no-deal at all, or somehow come up with an alternative plan in the tediously short amount of time between October 14th and the deadline.  The third option seems the most unlikely, as it would involve coming up with new legislation, scrutinizing it, amending it, all whilst working across party lines across the political spectrum.  May’s deal was blocked three times, so it would likely be blocked a fourth.  Therefore, a no-deal is the only option remaining. 

Not all MPs who oppose a no-deal are remainers, though.  Many of them are leavers with alternate motives.  With a no-deal Brexit comes not only economic issues, but food, fuel, and medical shortages nationwide.  All of which, is something that many MPs don’t want to deal with or be responsible for. 

While the 2016 referendum showed that people did want Brexit, nobody ever agreed to or voted for a no-deal Brexit. 

Johnson’s cowardice is nothing but dangerous.  He is driving the UK straight towards a constitutional crisis.  Boris and colleagues won’t be the ones facing the impact of a collapsing economy.  It’s the citizens who will be affected by this, and it’s the people who are being ignored by their own government. 

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