The Guardian view on no-deal Brexit plans: parliament must take back control
To take Britain out of the European Union without a deal would be the most wilfully dangerous policy action that any government of this country has taken in modern times. No deal would materially threaten the economic security of the British people in both the short and long term, outrage millions of citizens, upend the stability and cohesion of the nation, put 20 years of peace in Northern Ireland in jeopardy, place needless and crippling extra strain on services and markets, further deepen the already damaging divisions of Brexit, appal our good European neighbours and do massive lasting damage to the country’s standing in the world.
Yet, almost unbelievably, it is obvious that this is now one of the central goals of Boris Johnson’s government. Though ministers continue to mouth the mantra that they would prefer to leave with a deal, no serious effort is being made to achieve one. The prime minister and his team were reported at the weekend to be confident that parliament cannot stop them from crashing out. Conservative MPs, it was said, have been told it is now too late to stop no deal before the 31 October deadline, nearly three months away. Mr Johnson’s aide Dominic Cummings is said to have advised that not even a general election will be allowed to prevent them.
This arrogant gamble must be stopped. To stop it is a matter of immediate national democratic emergency. The country is governed by an elected parliament not by ministers acting on their own, especially ministers in a regime that has not itself been democratically confirmed and which has, in effect, ousted its elected predecessor. It is high time for parliament to stand up to Mr Johnson and stop him from taking Britain out of the EU on terms to which it has not consented.
What Mr Johnson is doing would be wrong even if he had a majority behind him. But the majority is against him. He is the head of a minority government. So he lacks both the democratic and moral authority to do what he is attempting. He nominally has the support of 311 Conservative MPs in a parliament of 650. But he lacks the backing of many of his own backbenchers for his approach, including several senior former ministers. He has just lost a byelection on the issue. Most of the opposition parties reject his approach too.
It is true that Mr Johnson can still count on the 10 MPs from the Northern Ireland DUP, as well as a handful of Labour anti-Europeans and a small minority of the 16 independents. But this is not a majority of the elected parliament. In the most recent test of parliamentary opinion on this subject, less than a month ago, there was majority against no-deal of 41. The ousting of the May government may have increased this majority. The DUP’s position is particularly egregious, since they are 10 of the 11 sitting MPs from a part of the UK which voted against Brexit and strongly supports a backstop plan that Mr Johnson pretends is intolerable to them.
There is no justification for parliament not sitting at such a time. It is therefore essential that MPs should be recalled from their summer recess. Holidays must wait or be terminated. Recall is not easy, since the government claims the power over the issue. Mr Johnson – who has also flirted with dismissing parliament from the process altogether – will not allow the Speaker to recall MPs before the scheduled return on 3 September. Both the last Labour government and the Speaker have argued that MPs should also have rights to have parliament recalled, but sadly these opportunities were missed.
Nevertheless, MPs should act as best they can. They should summon up the spirit of France’s 18th-century tennis court oath, when politicians pledged not to adjourn until their business was completed. MPs should draw up a petition for a recall and try to get a majority of the Commons to sign up. Legal action should be considered. The House of Lords, the devolved institutions and local councils can all hold emergency sessions of their own on the issue. MPs should consider occupying the Commons chamber to make the case against no deal. Britain needs a summer democratic revolt to isolate the government by every peaceful means possible. This country’s future must not be sacrificed upon the altar of Brexit.