UK Commons speaker pledges to fight suspension of parliament with ‘every bone in my body’ ‘The House of Commons must have its way,’ John Bercow says.

U.K. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

UK Commons speaker pledges to fight suspension of parliament with ‘every bone in my body’

‘The House of Commons must have its way,’ John Bercow says.

By          ISABELLA BORSHOFF      8/14/19, 9:02 AM CET Updated 8/14/19, 9:08 AM CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-commons-speaker-pledges-to-fight-suspension-of-parliament-with-every-bone-in-my-body/

U.K. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow vowed Tuesday to resist any attempt to shut down parliament in order to push through a no-deal Brexit.

"The one thing I feel strongly about is that the House of Commons must have its way," he said at the Edinburgh festival, according to the Telegraph. "And if there is an attempt to circumvent, to bypass or — God forbid! — to close down parliament; that is anathema to me and I will fight it with every bone in my body to stop that happening."

He added: “We cannot have a situation in which parliament is shut down — we are a democratic society. And parliament will be heard and nobody is going to get away as far as I am concerned with stopping that happening."

A court is set to decide on September 6 whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson can prorogue — or suspend — parliament to prevent it from nixing a no-deal Brexit, after more than 70 peers and MPs launched a legal challenge seeking to prevent the move.

Johnson has vowed to take the U.K. out of the EU, deal or no deal, by the current Brexit deadline of October 31. He has refused to rule out suspending parliament to stop MPs using constitutional tactics to block his plans.

Authors:

Isabella Borshoff