UK may sideline parliament to deliver on Brexit: PM candidate
A senior British Conservative lawmaker who has a high chance of winning a race to become next prime minister in the country says the government may be forced to suspend parliament to deliver on a mission to withdraw from the European Union at the end of October.
Dominic Raab said on Saturday that he will not rule out suspending parliament to meet a Brexit deadline if there is still a deadlock in the House of Commons that would block the government to implement Brexit on time.
“It’s a test of nerve here, and if candidates cannot stand up their resolve to lead us out by 31st October in a leadership contest, what chance do they have under the heat of the negotiations in Brussels?” said Raab, a former Brexit minister, in an interview with the BBC.
The comments come as candidates vying to replace outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May are mostly campaigning on a platform that Britain will need to withdraw from the EU on October 31 even if the parliament fails to pass a deal signed with the bloc in November.
Former foreign minister Boris Johnson, who is the top favorite to win a leadership race in the Tory Party and become prime minister, has repeatedly said he is determined to implement a no-deal Brexit. However, unlike Raab, Johnson has ruled out suspending the parliament where a significant majority of lawmakers are against a disorderly and costly exit from the EU.
Raab, who draws a good level of support from pro-Brexit lawmakers and members in the ruling party, said he wanted to keep all constitutional options on the table so that he could force the EU to agree to Britain’s proposals for changing the terms of the current Brexit agreement.
Raab said, however, that suspending the parliament might be a last-ditch effort to break the kind of impasse in the parliament that forced May to resign after three defeats on her Berxit deal.
“I think it is very unlikely that it would be necessary ... It is much more difficult this time for parliament to engage in the sort of guerrilla warfare sabotage of a government that is resolved ... to leave by the end of October,” he said.
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