Trust in Johnson government in short supply, says Boothroyd

FORMER COMMONS speaker Betty Boothroyd has said she had never witnessed “such a collapse of the people’s trust in a government” in the almost 50 years since she was elected as an MP.

Dewsbury- born Baroness Boothroyd, who now sits as a cross- bench peer in the House of Lords but was Commons speaker from 1992 to 2000, was speaking in the Lords debate on the Government’s controversial UK Internal Market Bill yesterday.

Boris Johnson’s Brexit legislation, enabling Ministers to break international law, was branded “dangerous” and “baffling” during the debate in the Lords. In a withering critique, 91- yearold Baroness Boothroyd took aim at Mr Johnson himself as she attacked the Government over the proposed legislation.

“I was elected to Parliament some 47 years ago and have witnessed nine Prime Ministers tread the steps of Number 10 Downing Street,” she said.

“But never in my parliamentary experience have I witnessed such a collapse of the people’s trust in a government that promised so much and so quickly, and is now groping for desperate solutions to problems it said would not arise, or if they did, they could easily be resolved.”

And she added: “But let’s not beat about the Euro bush, the Prime Minister set the course we’re on and shows no remorse for steering off course.” She said: “Future historians won’t need a test and trace operation to find those responsible if we end up in a legal battle in the Supreme Court, and an economic crisis that rivals the 1930s depression. I was a young girl in the 30s and saw the poverty and misery it caused at close quarters.”

She went on to brand Mr Johnson’s reassurances the country would survive a no- deal outcome due to “high hearts and complete confidence” as “a sham”.

And she added: “Trust, you know I think, in this government’s reputation, both nationally and internationally is in short supply. But our parliamentary democracy has deep roots, and I trust this House will defend our laws and traditions.”