Senior Tories today hit out at leadership contenders threatening to suspend Parliament to ram through a no-deal Brexit as MPs prepared for a crunch vote to block such an “anti-democratic” move.
Former Cabinet minister Sir Oliver Letwin was leading a group of MPs who have joined forces with Labour and other parties to prevent a new Prime Minister from proroguing the Commons.
The Government has a working majority of just five and at least that number of Tory MPs signalled they were ready to back a Commons motion which would allow MPs to take control of business on June 25 to thwart a suspension of Parliament.
Former attorney general Dominic Grieve told the Standard: “This motion offers almost certainly the last opportunity between now and October 31 to prevent a chaotic Brexit.
“Prorogation to facilitate Brexit would be entirely contrary to our constitutional norms.”
Former defence minister Guto Bebb added: “Leadership candidates trumpeting their no-deal views to appeal to the membership are ignoring the reality of what that means to a constituency like mine.”
Former universities minister Sam Gyimah stressed: “This is about stopping an anti-democratic prorogation of Parliament. If we want to deal with no deal without dragging the Queen into it and creating a constitutional crisis, then this might be one of the very few paths available to us.”
Antoinette Sandbach, a member of the backbench 1922 Committee executive, added: “It has been deeply concerning that a number of candidates have suggested they would seek to bypass Parliament which is undemocratic.”
Europhile former chancellor Ken Clarke was going to listen to the debate before making a final decision.
A number of Tory MPs are reluctant to back the motion in the name of Jeremy Corbyn, as well as Sir Oliver and other MPs, which was being debated on an Opposition Day.
Some of them, including ex-culture minister Ed Vaizey, were expected to abstain. The result of the vote could depend on how many pro-Brexit Labour MPs refuse to back the motion and the number of abstentions.
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Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab is among the Tory leadership candidates who have raised the threat of proroguing Parliament.
But other contenders have spoken out against the move and stressed that Parliament will go to great lengths to stop an EU crash-out. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “We can’t keep banging our heads against the brick wall of Parliament.”
Shadow Brexit minister Jenny Chapman described today’s vote as a “safety valve” to stop the next Prime Minister being able to freeze MPs out of a landmark decision on the country’s future.
