Parliament is prorogued… for real this time! Ceremony shuts down Commons and Lords ahead of next week’s Queen’s Speech 13 days after MPs were forced back to work when government lost Supreme Court battle
- MPs were summoned to the House of Lords chamber for the ceremony tonight
- Boris Johnson’s five-week suspension was thrown out by the Supreme Court
- The new prorogation is lasting only a few days until a Queen’s Speech next week
Parliament has been prorogued – this time for real – after a ceremony in the House of Lords tonight.
MPs were summoned to the Lords chamber this evening 13 days after they returned to work when Boris Johnson’s attempted five-week suspension was ruled unlawful.
This time, Parliament is shutting down for just a few days before a Queen’s Speech next week.
As a result, tonight’s ceremony attracted little attention and there were only a few dozen MPs in the chamber when Speaker John Bercow led them out to the Lords.
Prorogation: A thinly-attended ceremony in the House of Lords tonight marked the end of the parliamentary session, 13 days after MPs returned to work
Sparsely attended: There were only a few dozen MPs in the chamber when Speaker John Bercow led them out to the Lords
A prorogation announcement was read out on behalf of the Queen, who formally holds the power to suspend Parliament.
Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, his Labour counterpart Valerie Vaz and former Tory no-deal rebel Dominic Grieve were among the MPs who stood at the bar of the House to hear the prorogation announcement.
In a quirky Parliamentary tradition, the Queen’s approval of any outstanding bills is declared in Norman French: ‘La Reyne le veult’, or ‘The Queen wills it’.
Any Bills which have not been passed will have to be started afresh in the next session.
Back in the Commons afterwards, several MPs shook Mr Bercow’s hand just weeks before he stands down as Speaker.
It stood in contrast to the stormy scenes in the Commons when the first ‘prorogation’ was carried out last month.
Opposition parties took part in tonight’s ceremony, having boycotted September’s ill-fated attempt in protest.
Mr Johnson had insisted the five-week suspension was merely a procedural step to bring forward a new legislative agenda.
But his opponents, including Mr Bercow, accused him of constitutional trickery to stop Parliament interfering in the Brexit process.
Boris Johnson (pictured) tried to shut Parliament down for five weeks but the prorogation was thrown out by the Supreme Court last month
On September 24, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the PM’s move had been unlawful.
The prorogation ‘prevented Parliament from carrying out its constitutional role for five out of a possible eight weeks between the end of the summer recess and exit day on October 31,’ Britain’s top judges said.
As a result, Parliament was still sitting and the initial prorogation ceremony on September 10 effectively never happened, the court ruled.
Tonight’s ceremony finally brings to an end the longest parliamentary session in UK history.
The current session formally began on June 21, 2017 with the State Opening of Parliament, including the Queen’s Speech.
It ended tonight 839 calendar days later, the longest run since the UK was established by the Acts of Union in 1800.
The previous record-holder was the session of 2010-12, which lasted 707 calendar days.
Parliament is typically prorogued once a year, followed shortly afterwards by another State Opening and Queen’s Speech.
But in 2017, the Government announced that the current session was to last two years to pass key Brexit legislation.