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UK PM Boris Johnson dares opposition to call no-confidence vote

“Come on” said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s as he challenged the opposition parties to a vote of no-confidence in the Conservative-led government.

This comes during fiery exchanges in the UK parliament on Wednesday. It is the parliament’s first session following a suspension that the Supreme Court ruled illegal a day earlier.

Referring to the Supreme Court ruling in his address, Johnson said proroguing parliament was a political matter and not the place for the court to rule on saying “the court was wrong.”

He was heckled loudly by calls of “you’re a liar” as he continued to reiterate his demand that the UK will leave the EU of the 31 October and his determination to uphold the leave result of the first referendum.

Calls for Johnson to resign

In response Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition, called on the the UK’s PM to resign. He stated he would only hold a general election if the PM is able to get an extension on the Brexit-leave date.

The mammoth session was convened in the morning by House of Commons Speaker John Bercow, who had earlier called Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suspension a “constitutional outrage.”

Is British Parliament dead?

The debate in the UK House of Commons on Wednesday centered on Brexit and Operation Yellow Hammer with Michael Gove, the cabinet minister in charge of preparations for a “no-deal” Brexit, fielding the majority of the questions and answers in lieu of the PM.


Geoffrey Cox, the PM’s attorney general, and first Conservative party MP to speak following the resumption of parliament, argued that the British Parliament was “dead.”This was in response to the Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday that overturned the suspension of Parliament and called it “unlawful.” 

Read more: No-deal Brexit would mean Irish border controls, says EU’s Juncker

Landmark ruling

UK Parliament had been unable to sit since it was suspended on September 10. There were fears Johnson had sent lawmakers home to make it more difficult for MPs to discuss the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU.

Johnson had argued it was to start a new session of Parliament following a two-year-long session. Usually parliament sits for just one year.

Supreme Court President Lady Hale found in the Tuesday ruling that, “The decision to advise Her Majesty to prorogue Parliament was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification.”

kmm/sms (AP, Reuters)

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Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/uk-pm-boris-johnson-dares-opposition-to-call-no-confidence-vote/a-50579524?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf