Boris Johnson suspends UK Parliament: what you need to know

by Olaf Stando
Posted on
5 years ago
3 min read

Boris Johnson is set to undemocratically shut down the UK Parliament.

With no majority, no mandate, and no right to pursue his reckless plans to impose an extreme Brexit, Johnson is suspending parliamentary democracy to deprive MPs of the opportunity to hold the UK government to account.

The suspension of democracy is beyond outrageous, and is happening just a week after MPs have returned from a six week long summer recess.

By attempting to bypass Parliament, Boris Johnson is acting like a dictator and showing utter contempt for democracy.

Despite all the soundbites about Brexit “taking back control”, it’s clear that what Boris Johnson really wants is total control for himself and the Conservative Party – especially at a time when following four key defeats in Parliament, his authority is rapidly crumbling.

Boris Johnson’s government is now even too toxic for Ruth Davidson, Amber Rudd, and the countless MPs – including the former Chancellor and senior ministers – who have been purged by a hardline Vote Leave clique that has taken over the UK government.

If even Boris Johnson’s own brother can’t put up with him, then why should Scotland?

It’s clear from the UK government’s own analysis, confirmed by the leaked Operation Yellowhammer papers, that not only would a no-deal Brexit plunge Scotland and UK to a recession, costing over 100,000 Scottish jobs and slashing GDP, but also lead to food and medicine shortages and even affect the supply of clean water for “hundreds of thousands”.

A no-deal Brexit is a height of irresponsibility, and unemployment must not be a price worth paying for a dangerous Tory obsession.

Scotland voted overwhelmingly to Remain and we will never accept a damaging Brexit imposed upon us by a Tory Prime Minister without a mandate.

That’s why the SNP has led the cross-party efforts to stop Boris Johnson in his tracks and voted for the Bill to stop a catastrophic no-deal Brexit.

While every single SNP MP has backed the Bill, the Scottish Tory MPs have explicitly acted against Scotland’s and their constituents’ interests by following Boris Johnson’s orders to plough ahead with an extreme Brexit.

What’s more, in the Scottish Parliament last week, MSPs from all parties voted to reject a no-deal Brexit – apart from the group of Scottish Tory MSPs, showing them to be fully complicit in the unfolding disaster.

As the Bill becomes officially entrenched into law today, Boris Johnson must respect the law and firmly take no-deal off the table.

After the Bill is implemented and an extension to Article 50 has been agreed to by the European Union, we must have a General Election to give people the chance to bring down this Tory government.

People in Scotland deserve a choice over their future, rather than having Brexit imposed on us against our will by Westminster.

That opportunity – to stop Brexit and assert Scotland’s right to choose a better future with independence – will be at the heart of the coming election campaign.

Westminster must not trample over the Scottish people’s inalienable right to choose their future, and it’s now time to take Scotland’s future into Scotland’s hands.