British MPs demand Brexit documents as speaker John Bercow steps down

Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow announces he will be stepping down in October, saying: ‘We degrade this parliament at our peril.’ Picture: JESSICA TAYLOR / UK PARLIAMENT / AFP

The House of Commons vote came after a stormy week in which MPs passed a law undermining Johnson’s threat to leave the European Union on October 31 without having first agreed a deal with Brussels. In Monday’s vote, MPs also asked the government to publish communications, including WhatsApp messages and private e-mails, from certain advisers relating to Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament for five weeks.The premier says the so-called prorogation is a routine move to allow his premiership, which only began in July, to start afresh with a new legislative programme.

Britons voted in June 2016 to leave the EU but after three years of political wrangling, parliament still cannot decide how to implement the decision. The bill, which became law on Monday, would force Johnson to delay Brexit to January or even later if he cannot get a deal with Brussels at a crucial EU summit on October 17-18 — or persuade MPs to back no deal.

“We degrade this parliament at our peril,” he warned MPs, to a sustained standing ovation from largely opposition MPs.

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