Prime Minister Boris Johnson is on a collision course with U.K. lawmakers with his bid to suspend Parliament shortly after it reconvenes next month.
The move is ostensibly to allow Queen Elizabeth to lay out the government's program in a speech on Oct. 14. But it also serves to deny lawmakers the time to pass legislation that could prevent Johnson fromquitting the European Union on Oct. 31 without a deal. While there has long been talk of the gambit, the pound plunged on the announcement.
Johnson sees the threat of no deal as a bargaining chip in the standoff with the EU over negotiating Brexit. British lawmakers from all parties regard efforts to suspend Parliament as an attempt to circumvent the democratic process to achieve the aims of hard Brexiteers in the Conservative Party and cabinet.
They won't willingly be silenced. Some have talked of simply continuing to meet in another building, and defying the government. Parliament has passed measures aimed at forcing the government to let it convene. The response of a group of former Tory ministers is key.
What's clear is the U.K. faces a period of sustained constitutional trauma. After a relatively calm summer, Brexit is about to get real.
- Alan Crawford
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