Brexit Party MEPs have criticised Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament as a “huge mistake” because it has united Remainer MPs from different parties around the common cause of stopping Brexit.
The UK’s Supreme Court is hearing the last day of hearings on Thursday on the legality of Prime Minister Johnson’s prorogation (suspension) of parliament, seeking to reconcile the two contrary rulings of the Scottish Court of Session, which ruled it illegal, and the English High Court, which backed the government.
Rupert Lowe, Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands of England, said during Wednesday’s episode of the webcast BrexBox that while he is hopeful the ruling will be that it was lawful, “ultimately, I personally thought Prorogation was an error”.
Mr Lowe continued: “It’s actually unified all of the various Remain camps and it’s brought them together.
“They’ve focused on how they can stop Brexit to the ludicrous extent that the Liberal Democrats are now running on a ticket of Revoke [Article 50], which frankly is completely unacceptable and a slap in the face for 17.4 million people [who voted to leave the EU].”
Nigel Farage agreed with his Brexit Party colleague and called prorogation a “huge mistake”, saying: “The point about unifying the opposition is absolutely right, and you ask yourself: ‘For what gain?'”
“I think it was a mistake,” he said.
After Johnson came into office and pledged to take the UK out of the EU on October 31st with or without a deal, Remainers have been plotting to stop a clean exit, including passing a law to force the prime minister to seek another Brexit extension.
Johnson’s announcement last month that he would be proroguing parliament — ending the longest parliament for 300 years, in order to progress the Conservative government’s domestic agenda — has been taken by Remainers as an effort to stymie their attempts to stop Brexit, resulting in a number of court cases against the government.
A Downing Street source told The Telegraph last week that a group of cross-party Remainers, known as the “Remain Alliance”, is plotting to cancel Brexit entirely by revoking Article 50 at the end of next month if an EU treaty is not agreed.
“The PM will not negotiate a delay at the Brussels council. We expect there to be a major court battle immediately after the 19th and attempts to pass legislation revoking Article 50, which the Prime Minister will refuse to consider in any circumstances,” the source said.
In an earlier report, it was claimed that former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his New Labour colleague Peter Mandelson — once dubbed “the Prince of Darkness” — were advising the Remain Alliance by proxy on how to stop Brexit.
Parties on the left have become more radically anti-Brexit, with the Liberal Democrats announcing that if their leader Jo Swinson becomes prime minister, she will not simply call for a second referendum, but instead revoke Article 50.
The Labour Party announced that it would hold a second referendum under a Jeremy Corbyn government, with the options being a renegotiated soft Brexit deal that would mean the UK would remain closely aligned to the Single Market and Customs Union, or Remain.
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