MPs to face ‘Super Saturday’
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will challenge MPs to back any deal he secures from Brussels within 24 hours of a crunch European summit next week, when parliament sits on a Saturday for the first time in nearly 40 years.
Johnson is preparing to hold a vote on his deal during a ‘‘Super Saturday’’ sitting as he challenges MPs to endorse his approach or force through a Brexit delay.
If the vote passes, parliament will sit for seven days a week, late into the night, as the prime minister seeks to push legislation through the House of Commons and the House of Lords with less than two weeks to go before the October 31 Brexit date.
It is understood that Johnson will table a single motion combining both a vote on any deal he secures and the terms of the Benn Act, which forces him to request a Brexit extension if a deal cannot be reached.
It comes as Remain MPs are planning to try to force through a vote on a second referendum, in a move that could lead to a mass rebellion by Labour MPs and members of the shadow cabinet.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has brushed off demands by shadow ministers to call for a vote on a second referendum before a general election.
Hilary Benn, a Labour MP and chairman of the Brexit select committee, said October
19 could provide an ‘‘opportunity’’ for a vote on a second referendum.
The Saturday sitting would be just the fourth in 80 years, and the first since Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982.
October 19 is the deadline under the Benn Act for Johnson to ask the EU for a third Brexit delay. Government sources said MPs were expected to be called back to Westminster regardless of whether the prime minister was able to secure agreement on a Brexit deal. The summit in Brussels on October 17 and 18 is the last scheduled meeting of European Union leaders before Britain is supposed to leave the EU on October 31.
If Johnson is able to get an agreement, it will be an opportunity for MPs – who will have to give their approval – to debate it. Otherwise, Johnson is expected to set out how he plans to take Britain out of the EU at the end of the month regardless.
The last Saturday sitting before the Falklands War was in November 1956, amid the Suez crisis. The Commons also sat on a Saturday in July 1949 to complete a final few items of business before the summer recess, and in September 1939, the day before Britain declared war on Germany
The EU said yesterday that talks to find an amicable divorce deal were back on track. European Council President Donald Tusk said he had ‘‘received promising signals’’ from Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar that a Brexit deal was still possible, so he had extended a deadline to continue the talks.