160 MPs back a ‘Parliament in exile’

DOzENS of MPs have signed a declaration to support stopping a No Deal Brexit and the suspension of Parliament ‘using whatever mechanism possible’.

At Church House in Westminster – the meeting place of the Houses of Parliament during the Second World War – 160 MPs signed what they are calling the Church House Declaration.

The organiser of the move said she would back MPs meeting at an alternative location – such as Church House – if Parliament was prorogued in order to push through a No Deal Brexit.

Senior opposition politicians including Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and Change UK leader Anna Soubry were at the ceremony.

The declaration stated that shutting down Parliament would be ‘an undemocratic outrage at such a crucial moment for our country, and a historic constitutional crisis’.

It added: ‘Any attempt to prevent Parliament sitting, to force through a No Deal Brexit, will be met by strong and widespread democratic resistance.’

Mr McDonnell said Boris Johnson was a ‘threat to democracy’ because he had not ruled out proroguing Parliament to push through a No Deal.

Independent MP Luciana Berger and Labour MP Stephen Doughty convened the meeting. Miss Berger said she would support a ‘people’s parliament’ voting in Church House if Parliament is prorogued.

‘I wouldn’t purport to be an expert on [parliamentary rule book] Erskine May, but the fact that we come together in this place, where MPs have in the past come together, and it has been officially recognised, is indicative of the fact that it could take place again in the future,’ she said.

‘Our’s is a people’s parliament. We live in a parliamentary democracy and I hope that parliamentary democracy will be respected and will continue into the decades and centuries ahead.’

Mr Doughty said the declaration has 160 signatures from MPs and he invited other politicians of all parties to join them in signing the document.

Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake tweeted: ‘Boris Johnson you have done this. You’ve united the parties in the People’s Parliament, against your plans to shut the people, and our historic Parliament, out of one of the most critical decisions our country will take; crashing out of the EU without a deal. You won’t succeed!’