Andrea Leadsom rules out shutting down parliament to push through Brexit
As she set out her plans for a "managed" EU exit, the ex-cabinet minister tells Sky News she won't consider proroguing parliament.
Friday 7 June 2019 04:48, UK
Conservative leadership candidate Andrea Leadsom has told Sky News she will "certainly not" seek to temporarily suspend parliament in order to push through Brexit.
As she set out her plans for a "managed" exit from the bloc, the ex-cabinet minister ruled out proroguing parliament this autumn should MPs try to block the UK leaving the EU.
This puts Ms Leadsom at odds with fellow Brexiteer and rival leadership candidate Dominic Raab, who has left open the possibility of discontinuing the current parliamentary session in order to prevent MPs blocking a no-deal Brexit on 31 October.
Speaking to Sky News' political editor Beth Rigby, Ms Leadsom revealed she told Tory MPs this week that such a plan "would not be something workable".
She admitted she had taken advice on the matter when she was leader of the House of Commons - at a time when MPs previously acted to prevent a no-deal Brexit - but added: "It's certainly not something I would seek to do.
"I'm passionate about parliament democracy.
"It was my job to make sure I understood the implications of different outcomes, but certainly not because it was something I was attempting to do."
Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who is also in the race to be the next prime minister, later wrote to all his fellow candidates on Thursday to call on them to rule out proroguing parliament.
House of Commons Speaker John Bercow also suggested he would act against any future prime minister ending the parliamentary term early to avoid MPs having their say on Brexit.
He told MPs on Thursday: "Parliament will not be evacuated from the centre stage of the decision-making process on this important matter.
"That's simply not going to happen, it's just so blindingly obvious that it almost doesn't need to be stated.
"But apparently it does, and therefore I have done."
:: Listen to the All Out Politics podcast on , , ,
Ms Leadsom, a leading Leave campaigner, has a three-step plan for delivering a "managed" exit from the EU, having declared Theresa May's own withdrawal agreement "dead".
She would bring forward draft legislation to enshrine in law those areas of Brexit that have already been successfully negotiated by the UK and EU, as well as to protect the rights of UK citizens living in the EU and EU citizens living in the UK.
Ms Leadsom would also speed up Brexit preparations for businesses and for "alternative arrangements" on the Irish border.
In addition, she will propose a summit for EU leaders in early September to agree "sensible measures" with the UK for a "smooth exit".
Despite discarding Mrs May's withdrawal agreement with the EU, which was heavily defeated three times in the House of Commons, Ms Leadsom insisted she was not advocating a no-deal Brexit.
"Most colleagues on my side of the House and certainly the DUP are very keen to make sure we do leave the EU," she said.
"They don't want it to be a no-deal Brexit, but what I'm talking about is a managed exit.
"A managed exit is, by definition, not no deal."
She added: "I totally understand that it's different to what's been agreed over the last three years.
"But the reason why it needs to be different is because parliament won't accept the negotiation.
"That has been tested to destruction."
Ms Leadsom also dismissed the suggestion her Brexit strategy is high risk, even though it relies on the EU agreeing to return to negotiations separate to the existing withdrawal agreement.
She said: "Certainty in politics is never a given. This is going to be in their interests as much, if not more, than it's in our interests to do so.
"It's clearly in our shared interests not to have any further delay, they need to move on and so do we.
"It's clearly in our shared interests to resolve the rights for citizens in the UK and the EU.
"And it's clearly in our interests to resolve the issues around the future for goods in circulation."