Brexit: Tory Mp Calls For 'Prorogation' Of Parliament

Prime Minister Theresa May should close the British parliament temporarily to stop a bill blocking no deal Brexit, a Tory MP said Wednesday.



Jacob Rees-Morgan, Conservative MP and the chairman of the European Research Group (ERG), said if no deal is taken off the table, "the government would have had connived in doing it."



Speaking at an event organized by Eurosceptic think tank, Bruges Group, in London, Rees-Morgan said no deal cannot be taken off the table "if the government is determined to stop it."



Rees-Morgan's message for Theresa May came after an amendment was submitted by Labour MP Yvett Cooper, which will try to win the backing of majority of MPs in the House of Commons to take the option of crashing out from the EU on March 29, 2019.



"If the House of Commons undermines our basic constitutional conventions, then the executive is entitled to use other vestigial constitutional means to stop it, by which I basically mean prorogation," Rees-Morgan said.



"Prorogation normally lasts for three days, and any law that is in the process before prorogation falls. I think that would be the government's answer. That is the government's backstop, to use a choice phrase," he added.



Underlining that if the government allows no deal to be taken off the table, it would be the government's fall, the Brexiteer MP said "then it would be the job of backbench MPs to hold the government to account."



What is no deal?



A no deal Brexit means the U.K.'s departure from the bloc on 29 March 2019 without any withdrawal agreement. Political and economic circles argue that such a departure would be catastrophic for the U.K. economy and social life.



Labour Party is now working on an alternative Brexit deal that would command cross-party support in Parliament after losing the vote of no confidence in its attempt at ousting May last week.



After suffering a historic defeat in parliament last week when MPs voted in an overwhelming 432-202 majority against her Brexit deal, May is still holding meetings with groups of MPs for a deal that would win the backing of the House of Commons.



Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has rejected meeting May saying he would not do so until she takes no deal off the table.



The U.K. is set to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. -