The Press Association is reporting that a group of Church of England bishops has issued an open letter outlining their particular concerns over the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.
Twenty-five bishops signed the letter warning of the potential cost of a no-deal Brexit to “those least resilient to economic shocks”.
“The sovereignty of parliament is not just an empty term, it is based on institutions to be honoured and respected: our democracy is endangered by cavalier disregard for these,” they said.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said on Tuesday he would be willing to chair a citizens’ forum on Brexit “in principle” after being approached by senior MPs.
“The archbishop of Canterbury has conditionally agreed to chair a citizens forum in Coventry and, without prejudice for any particular outcome, we support this move to have all voices in the current Brexit debate heard,” said the bishops.
“However, we also have particular concerns about the potential cost of a no-deal Brexit to those least resilient to economic shocks.”
Unlike many news organisations, we chose an approach that means all our reporting is free and available for everyone. We need your support to keep delivering quality journalism, to maintain our openness and to protect our precious independence. Every reader contribution, big or small, is so valuable.
Anti-monarchists: Johnson places Queen in 'firing line'
Boris Johnson has placed the Queen “in the firing line” over Brexit, according to the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic. It floated the possibility that a parliamentary crisis could become a royal crisis.
Republic’s spokesman, Graham Smith, said Johnson had thrown British politics into a deep crisis “and has shone a spotlight on the impotence of the Queen and the role of the monarch’s powers”.
“Already people are petitioning the Queen to intervene, but she won’t. Not because she can’t, but because the Queen’s first priority is always the preservation of the monarchy.
“But Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament has created a unique crisis for the Queen. The convention is that the Queen does as she’s told by the PM. But in normal times the PM has the full support of a majority in the Commons.”
“Constitutionally the Queen is free to decide whether or not to go along with the government’s plans or support the sovereign parliament. So the Queen has a choice to make, and she’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t.”
The Queen and the Duchess of Cambridge are driven to Crathie Kirk Church before a service on 25 August in Crathie, Aberdeenshire. Photograph: Duncan McGlynn/Getty Images
Smith added: “Will the public care about the constitutional niceties? How much the Queen fulfils the public’s expectations and hopes will determine how much the parliamentary crisis becomes a royal crisis.”For the record, a YouGov poll in the run-up to last year’s royal marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle found that seven in 10 Britons support Britain continuing to have a monarchy.
Monarchists were also slightly more likely to be leave voters, with those who cast a ballot in 2016 splitting 56/44% in favour of Brexit. Those who were against Britain having a royal family voted 65/35% in favour of remain.
The shadow attorney general, Shami Chakrabarti, has told BBC Radio 5 Live that “opposition parties will be more united” as a result of Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament.
She described the move as “unconstitutional and unlawful” and said she had “little doubt that the courts will step up to protect our parliament and parliamentary democracy”.
They think they can get away with shutting down parliament because it’s inconvenient, and that is unconstitutional and unlawful in our country … None of us voted for a prime minister to shut down parliament because it’s annoying.
Chakrabarti said the first step would be to mount a parliamentary challenge, before considering legal action.
We will work across parties to defeat this strategy in parliament. And I hope it doesn’t come to it, but if down the road it ends up in the courts, I have little doubt that the courts will step up to protect our parliament and parliamentary democracy.
She also said of Boris Johnson:
He’s been getting away with blue murder, but this time he’s gone too far.
That petition is now at 175,000 signatures. It had 14,000 just over two hours ago. Once a petition gets more than 100,000 signatures it must be considered for a debate in parliament.
You can see where in the country the signatories come from by looking at this heatmap. It’s interesting to see the dark red patches in places such as London, Brighton, Oxford and Cambridge, as well as the more affluent parts of big northern cities such as Manchester and Sheffield.
Corbyn: Labour will oppose Johnson's 'smash and grab'
Jeremy Corbyn has said Labour will do everything it can to prevent what he described as a “smash and grab” operation on the part of the government.
“I have protested in the strongest possible terms on behalf of my party and all the other opposition parties that are going to join in with this in saying that suspending parliament is not acceptable, It’s not on,” the Labour leader said in a clip pooled to broadcasters.
“What the prime minister is doing is a sort of smash and grab on our democracy in order to force through a no-deal exit from the European Union. What is he so afraid of that he has to suspend parliament in order to prevent parliament discussing these matters?
Corbyn said the first thing Labour would do was to put forward legislation to prevent the suspension, and than there would be a challenge in the form of a vote of no confidence.
Asked about plans by a cross-party group of MPs to hold an alternative parliament, and calls by some Labour MPs for people to take to the streets, he replied: “We will do everything that we can. We will join everybody else in doing that.”
Mick Whelan, the general secretary of the train drivers’ trade union, Aslef, has said Boris Johnson’s decision to “try to sideline parliament in the run-up to Brexit” could cause civil unrest.
Whatever your views on Brexit, the democratic process must underpin what is done in all our names – or civil unrest will be the result.
It is disturbing that a prime minister who only has a mandate from the Conservative party and not from the electorate is trying to undermine the foundations of our democracy.
And while people did vote, three years ago, to leave the European Union, no one voted to leave without a deal. The best way forward is to call a general election and let the people decide.
The political commentator Paul Mason has called on people to gather in central London tonight to protest against the government’s planned suspension of parliament.
Tonight I'm going to stand outside Parliament with this message: democracy is beautiful but easily broken. To defend Parliament against the @BorisJohnson coup we need a peaceful but determined protest movement. King George V statue, 17:30 tonight.
The Guardian’s chief political correspondent, Jessica Elgot, has a useful caveat here on how much parliamentary time will be lost through the prorogation.
In practice, MPs are only likely to lose between four and six sitting days in parliament, depending on which day parliament is prorogued in the second week of September. MPs would have been due to hold conference recess from 12 September until 7 October.
Given that MPs do not generally sit on Fridays, it means MPs will not be able to sit for four days until the following Monday, 14 October. They could also lose days in the second week of September, depending on what day parliament is prorogued in the week beginning 9 September.
However, one key new obstacle is that any legislation that is incomplete ahead of prorogation will fall, meaning MPs would have to pass any anti-no-deal legislation in its entirety either before prorogation or in the three weeks leading up to 31 October.