BREAKING NEWS:
Former Transport secretary George Young has quit his government position in the House of Lords in protest at Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament
“I am not part of any remainer plot,” says Lord Young, who is resigning from the government over its decision to prorogue parliament next month. He was leader of the Commons 2010-12.
He described Boris Johnson’s unnecessary insistence on not taking a realistic amount of time to renegotiate a Brexit deal and insisting on a “do or die” October 31 as “rash.”
He writes that he is “unpersuaded” by the excuses the Prime Minister made for his decision to prorogue Parliament which he writes “risks undermining the fundamental role of Parliament at a critical time in our history, and reinforces the view that the Government may not have the confidence of the House for its Brexit policy.”
The full letter is below:
Lord Young is a Conservative Whip holding a lot of sway in the house of Lords and the resignation will be a massive blow for Boris Johnson as he relies on the House of Lords to help block any plans by MPs and Lords to delay Brexit to find a deal with the EU rather than leave with no deal – placing the UK in a vulnerable position economically and in negotiating any trade deals with the EU and the rest of the world.
In a double blow for the Prime Minister, he has also lost the support of Ruth Davidson as she has resigned today too as leader of the Scottish Conservative Party.
Her departure will be a huge loss for Mr Johnson, as without Ms Davidson who has consistently sounded warnings about Brexit, and especially a no-deal Brexit, the Tories are likely to lose many more seats in Scotland in a General Election.
Without Ruth Davidson helping the Tories picked up several seats in Scotland in the 2017 election, Theresa May would have been unlikely to have enough MPs to form the current Conservative government in coalition with the DUP.
Boris Johnson is very unpopular in Scotland, where he was constantly booed on a recent visit.
