FURY AS MPS ARE PUT ON ICE
Expats join over a million demanding the suspension of what has been called a 'coup' to block any debate against no-deal Brexit
BRITISH expats on the Costas are joining millions in the UK over the announcement this week that Parliament will be suspended.
A petition calling for the government not to suspend Parliament was signed by more than a million people after Boris Johnson’s bombshell.
It was launched by pro-EU campaigner Mark Johnson on Tuesday and ahead of the prime minister’s announcement had reached around 2,500 signatures - by 11pm on Wednesday night it had passed the one million mark and as CBNews went to press more than 1.3 million people had added their names.
One expat signing the petition said: “Once the decision to suspend Parliament was announced, the numbers just exploded.”
Mr Johnson, from Surrey and a supporter of campaign group British in Europe, demanded: “Parliament must not be prorogued or dissolved unless and until the Article 50 period has been sufficiently extended or the UK’s intention to withdraw from the EU has been cancelld.”
The Prime Minister’s decision to suspend Parliament was branded the act of a 'tin pot dictator' by an angry campaigner for expat rights after Brexit.
Margaret Hales MBE, a Costa Blanca resident and the Spanish voice of campaign group Expat Citizen Rights in the EU (ECREU) said she was swamped with emails, Tweets, and WhatsApps from angry British people living across Europe. “It is the work of dictators; the stuff of coups in third world countries - and what people really don’t like is the Queen was put in such a difficult position,” she told CBNews.
“Parliament is being put on ice and MPs are being made as helpless as the rest of us. What is the point of taking back sovereignty when they can just close down Parliament?
“Closing down Parliament is not that unusual, but to do it in the middle of a crisis is beyond belief.”
Margaret said expats - especially those who were barred from voting in the UK because of the current 15 year rule were 'helpless'. She added: “We sit here and watch; most people living here in Spain are on or beyond the 15 years and are helpless - they cannot vote or soon will be without a vote. We have been disenfranchised.
“I would like to appeal to all British people here on holiday or the ‘swallows’ who live here part of the year to rise up...those who are franchised to rise up and say this is not the way to bring about a life-changing event, to shut down Parliament.”
And she hopes expats will join their countrymen back in the UK and start a campaign of peaceful protest against the government’s move outside town halls, civic offices and consulates in Spain.
“The bit of Britain we are all proud of is the process of democracy and for that to fall by the wayside is just incredible,” said Margaret.
“British people in Europe are affronted by this and the only way to show this is to go out on the streets - forget the stiff upper lip and peacefully protest and say ‘we have had enough’.”