Moscow | The British parliament was suspended until October 14 in the early hours of Tuesday, right after the proposal of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to hold early parliamentary elections was rejected. Earlier in the day, lawmakers for the second time in a week rejected Johnson’s bid for snap parliamentary elections with 293 votes in support, while 434 were needed for passing.
Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow said “This is not … a normal prorogation. It is not typical, it is not standard, it is one of the longest for decades.” The House of Commons ended his speech with the words “we degrade this parliament.” Opposition lawmakers were holding signs saying “silenced.”
Johnson’s defeat came hours after Queen Elizabeth II gave a royal assent to the bill, blocking a no-deal Brexit in late October. This bill, dubbed by the prime minister as the “surrender bill,” was adopted on Wednesday and then passed to the House of Lords. During the debates in the UK parliament, Johnson proposed a snap election on October 15, but his call was rejected. On Friday, the upper chamber approved the bill, forcing Johnson to ask the European Union for a Br-exit deadline delay.
After the last defeat, Johnson once again pledged to make everything possible to strike a deal with the European Union and reiterated that his government would not ask Brussels for an extension of the withdrawal date.
Since the beginning of his tenure Johnson promised that the United Kingdom would withdraw from the bloc with or without a deal. The prime minister insisted that the backstop plan should be excluded from the previously agreed London-Brussels deal. The EU leaders, however, opposed to review the agreement. Johnson in response announced the preparations for a possible no-deal Br-exit, adding though that he would try to negotiate a new deal with the European Union.
The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in 2016 but the withdrawal was delayed several times. After then-Prime Minister Theresa May failed to come up with an acceptable plan to leave the bloc by March 29 of this year, the deadline was moved to October 31.
