Now the danger to democracy is acute

WITH Parliament closed down for five weeks on the spurious excuse that Boris Johnson’s Government needs to write a new Queen’s Speech, there will be no opportunity for MPs to scrutinise Ministers as our most serious constitutional crisis in living memory moves towards its still uncertain conclusion.

Political observers in other countries find it extraordinary that the executive is able to shut down the legislature at will in what before Mr Johnson became Prime Minister was regarded as a mature Parliamentary democracy.

What we have learned is that having an unwritten constitution is fine when those involved play by the rules, but a recipe for serious trouble when disrupters like Mr Johnson and Dominic Cummings attain positions of power and authority.

When people like Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings take charge, the danger to democracy is acute. It becomes more important than ever to hold them to account.

Last week Jeremy Corbyn challenged Mr Johnson to publish the reports of Operation Yellowhammer, which set out the Government’s own concerns about what would happen in the event of a nodeal Brexit.

The Prime Minister didn’t bother to respond.

Fortunately, one of the relevant reports was leaked to a newspaper last month.

It set out in stark detail the negative outcomes we can expect. There would be significant disruption to the movement of goods, with HGVs facing a maximum delay of two -and-a-half days before being allowed to cross the border to and from France.

Increased immigration checks would cause delays at the Eurostar rail terminus at St Pancras in London, at the Channel tunnel and at Dover. There would be an impact on the supply of medicines and medical supplies, and the supply of certain types of fresh food would decrease.

Tariffs would make UK petrol exports to the EU uncompetitive and two oil refineries would likely close with the loss of about 2,000 direct jobs. Protests and counterprotests would be expected across the UK, using up police resources, as well as a possible rise in public disorder and community tensions.

The people of the UK have a right to be told the latest thinking of the Government’s own experts on how a no-deal Brexit would be likely to unfold. With Parliament corralled, it’s the role of journalists to uncover the truth.