“If the only reason for this is to have time for the Queen’s speech, all that was necessary was for an announcement to be made saying that there would be a prorogation while parliament was in recess at the conferences, and we’d assemble for the Queen’s speech immediately after the conference season, you didn’t need the five weeks that’s proposed. There’s a big difference between what happens in a parliamentary recess and a prorogation of parliament because all parliamentary activity shuts down including committees. With a prorogation, if I put down a question to a minister that is guillotined, it just falls away.
“We are approaching a really important deadline, we’ve got a big negotiation with the European Union. And we’ve got a deadline of the end of October, which could lead to a no deal. And we need to know more about the government’s preparations for that scenario and more about the negotiations as they continue because our constituents will be affected by those decisions.
“Real people want answers and what’s happening under this proposal is parliament is being gagged. And people won’t be able to ask questions and hold ministers to account. I think that is wrong.
“What prorogation does is prevent parliament from sitting at all. And it prevents MPs from asking questions. It prevents many ministers from being held to account by parliamentary select committees. And I think that is not a good way to do democracy.”
