UK MP grabs Queen mace to protest Brexit uncertainty

A member of the British parliament has seized the mace of the Queen, a symbol of the monarch’s authority in the chamber, to protest a move by the government to defer a highly-anticipated vote on its European Union divorce agreement.

A video released in the social media on Tuesday by a political journalist of the BBC showed Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a member of the opposition Labour Party, grabbing the mace before holding it up in the center of the parliament to show how the House of Commons had been robbed of its sovereign right to have a say on the very important issue of Brexit.

“The symbolic gesture of lifting the mace and removing it is that the will of parliament to govern is no longer there has been removed. I felt parliament had effectively given up its sovereign right to govern properly,” said Russell-Moyle, who represents Brighton Kemptown in the British parliament.

The Speaker of the British parliament then ordered staff to take back the mace, without which the parliament cannot meet or pass laws. John Bercow also suspended Russell-Moyle from the rest of parliament session which was devoted to hearing Prime Minister Theresa May’s statement on deferring the Tuesday vote on Brexit.

May said during the Monday session that she would hold talks with European leaders to gain more assurances about the Brexit deal she signed last month so that it could pass through the parliament.

Lawmakers from across the political spectrum slammed May’s decision to postpone the crunch vote while the move also sparked fresh concerns about Britain's ability to leave the EU on March 29, 2019 in an orderly manner .

The British parliament continued to be the center public attention on Tuesday, as reports said police had arrested a man trying to attack the parliament compound.

The Metropolitan Police said its forces were forced to use a taser to apprehend the man who had allegedly crossed the fences in an attempt to reach the parliament chamber.

“A man was detained and arrested by Carriage Gates inside the Palace of Westminster on suspicion of trespassing at a protected site, at around 11.55 hrs on Tuesday, 11 December,” said the Met, adding, “A Taser was deployed. Enquiries into the circumstances continue.”

Authorities said the incident, which comes after several high-profile assaults on the British parliament in recent times, was not terror-related. However, some said the man involved in the attack may have had the intention to show his anger at the inability of a divided parliament to put an end to the growing uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

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