148 Labour MPs send letter to PM demanding prorogation reversal

148 Labour MPs have sent a letter to the Prime Minister today demanding a reversal of his decision to prorogue, or suspend, parliament from next week until mid-October.

“Now is not the time to curtail the sitting of parliament, but to increase it,” the MPs have told Boris Johnson. They concluded their letter: “We urge you to reverse the prorogation immediately.”

Signatories to the letter include Labour MPs who oppose another EU referendum and want to see the 2016 result implemented, such as Justin Madders, Gloria de Piero and Lisa Nandy.

Justin Madders, MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, commented: “With just weeks to go before we potentially crash out of the EU without a deal, there are massively important issues that we desperately need to call ministers to account over, but are being denied the opportunity to do so by a government too scared by the reality of no deal.”

Kate Osamor, a member of the Love Socialism group of MPs, said: “My constituents are deeply worried about the government’s actions. This is a problem borne of Brexit, but it has gone way beyond Brexit. The prorogation of parliament is an abuse of our democracy to deliver an exit from the EU that would be catastrophic for working people in constituencies like mine. It cannot be allowed to go ahead.”

Below is the full text of the letter.

Dear Boris Johnson,

We, the undersigned, do not agree with the proroguing of parliament as the possibility of leaving the EU with no deal increases and our national crisis deepens.

We will fight this within parliament, and like the people who are protesting across the country, we will work together to defend our hard-won democracy to the last.

Every day parliament is sitting over the coming weeks must be dedicated to finding a way forward for our country on Brexit and to scrutinise your wider policy claims and announcements including the spending of billions of pounds of taxpayers money on no deal instead of our public services, NHS and police.

Now is not the time to curtail the sitting of parliament, but to increase it.

There is a grave danger that the executive is seeking to undermine the sovereign body of parliament for political gain, risking unprecedented constitutional upheaval.

We urge you to reverse the prorogation immediately.

Yours,

Alex Sobel
Clive Lewis
Lloyd Russell-Moyle
Lyn Brown
Justin Madders
David Hanson
Jack Dromey
Stephen Doughty
Chi Onwurah
Ruth George
Preet Gill
Anneliese Dodds
Ruth Jones
Jo Stevens
Paul Williams
Kate Green
Rushanara Ali
Rosie Duffield
Mike Amesbury
Susan Elan Jones
Anna Turley
Alan Whitehead
Hilary Benn
Tan Dhesi
Daniel Zeichner
Richard Burden
Madeleine Moon
Virendra Sharma
Bill Esterson
Owen Smith
Neil Coyle
Sharon Hodgson
Tonia Antionazzi
Matthew Pennycook
Catherine Mckinnell
Debbie Abrahams
Louise Haigh
Paula Sherriff
Martin Whitfield
Shabana Mahmood
Jeff Smith
Tulip Siddiq
Karen Buck
Ian Murray
Lilian Greenwood
Paul Farrelly
Mary Creagh
Chris Elmore
Anna Mcmorrin
James Frith
Chris Matheson
Bambos Charalambous
Matt Western
Andy Slaughter
Sandy Martin
Emma Hardy
Paul Sweeney
Gareth Thomas
Clive Efford
Chris Ruane
Rachael Maskell
Helen Hayes
Ruth Cadbury
Stephen Timms
Kate Hollern
Kerry McCarthy
Wes Streeting
Louise Ellman
Maria Eagle
Angela Eagle
Theresa Pearce
Mary Glindon
David Drew
Luke Pollard
Stephen Morgan
Rupa Huq
Steve Reed
Adrian Bailey
Darren Jones
Steve McCabe
Roberta Blackman Woods
Emma Reynolds
Vernon Coaker
Danielle Rowley
Lisa Forbes
Jess Phillips
Emma Dent Coad
Sarah Jones
Faisal Rashid
Helen Goodman
Ellie Reeves
Rachel Reeves
Barry Sheerman
Meg Hillier
Eleanor Smith
Peter Kyle
Jim Mcmahon
Kevin Brennan
Matt Rodda
Mohamed Yasin
Alex Cunningham
Stephen Kinnock
Ann Clwyd
Ian Lucas
Vicky Foxcroft
Liz Twist
Margaret Hodge
Afzal Khan
Melanie Onn
George Howarth
David Lammy
Rosena Allin-Khan
Ged Killen
Ben Bradshaw
Ali McGovern
Seema Mulhotra
Fabian Hamilton
Roger Godsiff
Lisa Nandy
Diana Johnson
Catherine West
Gloria De Piero
Toby Perkins
Janet Daby
Marsha De Cordova
Geraint Davies
Phil Wilson
Jonny Reynolds
Mike Hill
Hugh Gaffney
Julie Elliott
John Grogan
Karin Smyth
Tracy Brabin
Stella Creasy
Harriet Harman
Kate Osamor
Naz Shah
Lucy Powell
Stephen Kinnock
Ian Mearns
Louise Haigh
Liz Mcinnes
Holly Lynch
Mark Hendrick
Graham Jones
Yasmin Qureshi