10,000 Fifers back bid to stop suspension of Parliament

Almost 10,000 have voiced their opposition to the controversial move by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to suspend Parliament for more than a month, from the second week of September until October 14.

The petition on Parliament’s website amassed the 100,000 signatures required to be considered for debate by MPs less than three hours after the he announced his plan to prorogue Parliament in order to push through his new domestic agenda.

In Fife’s Westminster constituencies, 9669 people had put their name to the petition by 11.00 am on Thursday.

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The three constituencies with most signatures in Fife were:

North East Fife: 2611; Ochil and South Perthshire: 2,262; Dunfermline and West Fife: 2,162

Any petition that secures 10,000 signatures is guaranteed a government response and 100,000 names sees the petitions committee consider it for debate by MPs.

The petition, created by Mark Johnston, states that Parliament should not be prorogued unless there is another extension of the Brexit deadline – or the idea of leaving the European Union is scrapped altogether.

It says: “Parliament must not be prorogued or dissolved unless and until the Article 50 period has been sufficiently extended or the UK’s intention to withdraw from the EU has been cancelled.”

The Queen approved the plan on Wednesday afternoon, which will see Parliament prorogued no earlier than September 9 and no later than September 12, until October 14.

Mr Johnson has denied the move is to pave the way for an early general election.

But he said it would allow him to bring forward legislation for a new Withdrawal Agreement if a deal can be done with Brussels around the time of the European Council summit on October 17.