GBP focus: Muted reaction after request to suspend parliament
Headlines:
BREXIT: BBC SENIOR JOURNALIST ROBINSON SAYS HEARING THE QUEEN COULD BE ASKED TO PROROGUE PARLIAMENT AS EARLY AS TODAY
BREXIT: GUARDIAN POLITICAL EDITOR SAYS HEARD FROM MORE THAN ONE SOURCE OF A PRIVY COUNCIL MEETING AT QUEEN'S RESIDENCE IN BALMORAL TO DISCUSS EXTENDING CONFERENCE RECESS UNTIL OCT. 14
PM Johnson has requested the suspension of (prorogation) parliament from 1st Sepp until 14th October. GBP has hardly moved.
It is not uncommon for a new government to request this, but this is clearly designed to allow PM Johnson to pursue his own Brexit agenda without too much internal pressure.
I use a few comments from JP Chase research here:
Boris has promised MPs a vote on the government’s “overall program and approach to Brexit” on October 21-22nd, but it is not clear that such a vote would bind the executive at that stage. However, this action will force those in the UK who wish to prevent a ‘No-Deal’ to focus their efforts.
JPChase comments on the schedule:
PM Johnson’s choice of dates has been determined by requirements in law that were inserted in a bill onNorthern Ireland back in July. That bill requires Parliament to sit, even if prorogued, within five days of September 4th and October 9th. The Commons would normally not sit for the two weeks at the end of
September while party conferences take place, but would sit for the first two weeks of October. It has beensuggested by a number of MPs, however, that the usual break for the Party conferences should not occur, and if a majority of MPs had voted in favor of that the House would have continued to sit.