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UK PM Boris Johnson Urges Parliament to Reject 'Jeremy Corbyn Surrender Bill' Aiming to Delay Brexit

© AFP 2023 / ISABEL INFANTESA pro-Brexit activist holds a placard as she protests outside the Houses of Parliament in central London on September 3, 2019.
A pro-Brexit activist holds a placard as she protests outside the Houses of Parliament in central London on September 3, 2019. - Sputnik International
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Earlier in the day, it was announced that the British Parliament planned to gather later in the day to rush-vote a bill that would prevent UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson from leaving the EU on 31 October without a deal.

Boris Johnson has urged the UK parliament to reject the bill that according to him, should be known as "Jeremy Corbyn's surrender bill" that would block a no-deal Brexit. 

"There is one step that would jeopardize all the progress that we have made in the G7 and around the capitals of Europe, and that is if this House were to decide that it was simply impossible for us to leave without a deal. And to make that step illegal, to force us, that's what they want ... to force us to beg for yet another pointless delay," Johnson said.

The prime minister further noted that chances of a Brexit deal have grown in the last few weeks after the United Kingdom made it clear it wanted to get rid of a backstop clause in the withdrawal agreement and change a political declaration, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday.

"This clarity has brought benefits: far from jeopardizing negotiations, it is making them more straightforward. In the last few weeks, I believe, the chances of a deal have risen," Johnson told the lawmakers.

The prime minister stressed that there were practical solutions that would help avoid using backstop for the Irish border.

Johnson said he would meet his Irish counterpart, Leo Varadkar, in Dublin on Monday to discuss the common management of agricultural resources across the island of Ireland, among other matters.

"I returned from the G7 with a real momentum in the Brexit discussions. I want to return from next month's European Council in a similar way, with a deal that this house can debate and scrutinize and endorse in time for our departure on October 31," Johnson said.

Meanwhile, Johnson has lost his working parliamentary majority ahead of a crucial Brexit after Conservative MP Phillip Lee defected to the pro-EU Liberal Democrats.

"I have reached the conclusion that it is not possible to serve my constituents’ and country’s best interests as a Conservative Member of Parliament," Lee said in a letter to Johnson.

Johnson's speech came after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that opposition parties were looking into ways to block Boris Johnson's plans to call snap elections to force a hard Brexit.

Commenting on the decision to hold a parliamentary meeting, Johnson urged earlier in the day his Tory colleagues not to vote to block a no-deal Brexit whilst issuing threats to expel and deselect any Conservative MPs attempting to do so.

The pop out of the blue meeting comes a week after the UK prime minister received the Queen's approval in late-August to prorogue Parliament until 14 October. Commenting on his decision, Johnson said that the previous session had lasted for 340 days and should be brought to a close.

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