Bercow vows ‘creativity’ to stop Johnson dodging Brexit delay
John Bercow has vowed to use “creativity” to prevent Prime Minister Boris Johnson from ignoring a law designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
Under a new law passed before the suspension of parliament, Johnson must seek a delay to the 31 October Brexit deadline if he does not secure parliament’s approval for an exit agreement.
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However, the Prime Minister has promised to take the UK out of the EU on 31 October with or without a deal, and has said he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than ask for a delay.
Delivering a lecture in London last night, Bercow said it was “astonishing” that anyone was entertaining the idea of not obeying the law.
“If we come close to being there I would imagine that parliament would want to cut off such a possibility and to do so forcefully,” he said.
“If that demands additional procedural creativity in order to come to pass it is a racing certainty that this will happen and that neither the limitations of the existing rulebook nor the ticking of the clock will stop it doing so.”
Bercow, who has been accused of breaking parliamentary rules in an effort to force a Brexit delay, has said he will step down by the current Brexit deadline after more than 10 years in the role.
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Senior Tory MP Michael Fabricant described the Speaker’s comments as “beyond hypocritical”.
“His bias has brought the office of Speaker into disrepute,” Fabricant wrote in a tweet.
Main image credit: Getty