Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
Jacob Jarvis

Parliament prorogued: Home Affairs Committee sitting 'informally' for Brexit discussions despite five-week suspension

Yvette Cooper at the Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday (Picture: parliamentlive.tv)

Yvette Cooper has declared the Home Affairs Committee will sit informally despite being unable to do so officially due to the suspension of Parliament.

Ms Cooper, who chairs the cross-party committee, said due to the prorogation a scheduled "formal evidence session" on no-deal Brexit preparations could not take place.

She tweeted: "So instead we are meeting informally - still taking public evidence from the Borders Inspectorate & the Freight Transport Assoc at 10am."

Yesterday she had said the suspension meant the group "can’t meet formally tomorrow to take evidence on border preparations or immigration arrangements under No Deal".

"We’ve not yet had evidence from new Home Secretary on her plans & Parliament is now being stopped for 5 weeks. Completely irresponsible," she tweeted.

Parliament was suspended at around 1.45am this morning and will be shut until October 14 when it will recommence with a Queen's Speech - which the PM said he needs to layout his new legislative agenda.

http://players.brightcove.net/1348423965/default_default/index.html?videoId=6084832252001

There has been a major backlash to these plans and group of MPs took a symbolic stance against Mr Johnson shutting down Parliament by staging a protest in the Commons .

In chaotic scenes in the Commons, several politicians holding signs which read “silenced” gathered around Speaker John Bercow’s chair shortly before he stood to give his speech on the suspension.

A number of Conservative MPs criticised opposition MPs over their protests in the Commons and Chris Green tweeted: "Just when you thought Labour could not get any more shameful they grapple with doormen to try and stop a normal procedure of the HoC and then stage a sit in. If they want change, they could have called a general election."

Sport minister Nigel Adams accused the opposition of a "ludicrous playground stunt after you blocked a general election for the second time".

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.