British House of Lords Approves Bill to Extend Brexit Deadline and Block No-Deal
The British House of Lords approved legislation today (Friday) that will block a no-deal Brexit and extend the deadline by three months, if no deal is agreed with the EU by October 19th.
The Bill was debated, voted on and passed in the House of Commons this week. It is due to receive royal assent on Monday September 9th, meaning it will be signed into law by Queen Elizabeth.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tabled a motion on Wednesday to dissolve Parliament allowing for a snap general election. The motion was defeated as it did not gain the required two-thirds majority.
The Prime Minister is due to table a second motion in the Commons on Monday next after he attends a bilateral meeting on Brexit in Dublin.
According to BBC reports, opposition MPs say they will either vote against government or abstain in Monday’s vote and will continue to block a general election until after the EU summit in October.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn said that only when a no-deal Brexit was moved off the table should a general election go ahead. He called the Prime Minister’s attempt to push for a general election ‘a cynical move by a cynical Prime Minister.’
He said, ‘The truth is that this motion from the Prime Minister is about playing a disingenuous game that is unworthy of his office.’
He called on Boris Johnson to make his Brexit plans clear. ‘If he (Boris Johnson) has a Brexit plan, be it no deal or the new mystery proposal that we’ve yet to see any information on, then he should put it before the public in a referendum or in a general election and seek a mandate from them.’
Leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party Nicola Sturgeon said today that while her party relishes the prospect of an election it is not now in the public interest. She said, ‘But while our party interest might be served by voting for an election now, it is in the wider public interest to deny a PM threatening to defy the law any ability to cut and run in his own interests.’
The Scottish First Minister went on to say that an election would come and when it does, her party ‘will put Scotland’s opposition to Brexit and our right to choose our own future as an independent nation at the very heart of the contest.’
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