Section:GDN 1N PaGe:9 Edition Date:190831 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 30/8/2019 19:03 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
Sat urday 31 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
9October
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Queen’s speech sets out Johnson’s
priorities17 October
Johnson goes to European council
meeting with EU27 leaders21-22 October
MPs could debate and vote on new
Brexit deal31 October
Britain leaves the EU32 4 5MonSeptember
Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat9 10 11 12 13 14 1516 17 18 19 20 21 2223 24 25 26 27 28 293067813 September
Parliament returns from summer recessWeek of 9 September
Parliament could be suspended from
Monday or may sit until Thursday14 September to 2 October
Party conference season. The house was
not due to sit, but is now no longer
available for emergency sessionsProroguedParty conferencesProroguedDue to sitDue to sitDoes not usually sit on weekendsParliamentary calendar
Guardian graphicJessica Elgot
Chief political correspondentMore than 50 MPs from the main
parties have pledged to occupy an
alternative House of Commons if the
prime minister suspends parliament
in September, saying they are deter-
mined to continue to debate Brexit
policy over the fi ve-week period.
In a letter to the Guardian co ordi-
nated by Best for Britain, backbenchers
from the Conservatives, Labour, the
SNP, Liberal Democrats, Change UK
and Plaid Cymru said they would con-
vene an alternative parliament should
they be barred from the chamber.
Signatures include the Labour MP
David Lammy, the current and former
Lib Dem leaders Jo Swinson and Sir
Vince Cable, Green party MP Caroline
Lucas and Conservative MPs Antoi-
nette Sandbach and Guto Bebb.
“We cannot allow the govern-
ment to avoid scrutiny at this time of
national crisis,” the letter reads, say-
ing MPs will convene “an alternative
parliament to continue holding the
government to account and fi ght this
most damaging Brexit”.
“Those who voted to leave in 2016
were promised a negotiated deal by
the Vote Leave campaign,” the letter
continues.
“The prime minister has now
announced that he will prorogue par-
liament in a bid to get a no-deal Brexit
through. Such an unconstitutional
coup risks compromising people’s
jobs, security and living standards,
not to mention the Good Friday
agreement. Now Boris Johnson is jeop-
ardising all this for the sake of his own
personal polling.
“It is clear that this has been done to
stop MPs debating Brexit at our coun-
try’s most constitutionally charged
time in recent history.”
The campaign group’s chief execu-
tive, Naomi Smith , said voters would
expect representation during such a
volatile period.
“The Commons is an assembly of
people sent by their constituents as
representatives,” she said.
“If Boris Johnson succeeds in this
unconstitutional coup and locks the
doors of the Palace of Westminster
at this crucial time, that assembly
should make its voice heard by com-
ing together elsewhere.”
A number of other direct actions are
planned for the coming week, before
MPs return to parliament on Tuesday
and the prorogation, which is planned
for the following week.
The anti-Brexit campaign groupLisa O’Carroll
Brexit correspondent
The spread of communicable diseases
among vulnerable groups and prob-
lems with mental health care provision
are likely to increase in the event of a
no-deal Brexit, according to a group of
public health academics.
They have criticised the gov-
ernment’s secretive approach on
post-Brexit health, saying at least 26
non-disclosure agreements have been
imposed on advisers.
“The government’s claims that it
is prepared for no deal are implau-
sible and at best [its preparations]
might mitigate some of the worst
consequences,” they say in a paper
published in the British Medical Jour-
nal on Thursday.
They go on to say a no-deal Brexit
would be likely to increase the diffi cul-
ties for people already fac ing poverty,
poor housing options and under-
funded local services.
In the event of a post-Brexit
recession, they say, “likely conse-
quences include rises in suicides,
alcohol-related deaths and some
communicable diseases, such as
tuberculosis and HIV, especially
among vulnerable groups ”.
The paper’s authors include Mar-
tin McKee , a professor of European
public health at the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine ; Tim
Lang , a professor of food policy and
consultant to the World Health Organ-
i zation; and Maggie Rae , the president
of the Faculty of Public Health, an
association representing 4,000 pub-
lic health professionals.
The paper says a no-deal Brexit
would risk exacerbating health prob-
lems and aff ecting life expectancy in
some areas , and there is potential for
medicine and food shortages as well
as compromised supply chains, gov-
ernance and funding.
The authors say they found no
evidence in their research that the
government had done a proper impact
assessment on no deal and health , and
they call for an urgent independent
review to enable health profession-
als tackle one of the biggest potential
crises to face the NHS.
The paper, which McKee says
provides a vital missing piece of the no-
deal Brexit health jigsaw, attempts to
identify risks other than those already
widely reported such as shortages of
medicines such as cancer drugs.
Meanwhile, 11 organisations,
including the British Medical Associ-
ation and the Royal College of Nursing,
have said no deal could disrupt the
supply of medicines to the country
for up to six months.
“Many medicines, including life-
saving agents for cancer diagnosis and
therapy, cannot be stockpiled, and for
those that can, stockpiles could run
out,” they said.
Another Europe Is Possible has organ-
ised 32 #StopTheCoup demonstrations
to take place in England, Scotland and
Wales today.
The move to set up an alternative
parliament follows a similar gather-
ing in Church House in Westminster
last week by MPs who demanded the
recall of the Commons and said they
would oppose prorogation.
The meeting, convened by the
Labour MP Stephen Doughty and
the independent MP Luciana Berger,
resulted in a pledge to sit through
prorogation, signed by the shadow
chancellor, John McDonnell, and the
former Conservative MP Anna Soubry,
as well as Swinson and Lucas.
The Church House declaration said
that shutting down parliament would
be “an undemocratic outrage at such
a crucial moment for our country,
and a historic constitutional crisis ...
Any attempt to prevent parliament
[from] sitting, to force through a no-
deal Brexit, will be met by strong and
widespread democratic resistance.”‘A l t e r n a t i v e C o m m o n s ’
MPs plan to carry on Brexit
debate during suspension
Health
Disease and
suicide rates
may rise if UK
crashes out
▲ The leader of the Lib Dems, Jo
Swinson, is among the signatories▼ The chancellor, Sajid Javid,
left, and Dominic Cummings,
right, who is a key adviser to the
prime minister Boris Johnson▲ Sonia Khan walking behind her
then boss, Philip Hammond Continued from page 1Claims of ‘culture of
fear’ as chancellor
confronts Johnson
Operation Yellowhammer, prompting
Downing Street to clarify yesterday
that she was not the source.
Khan was said to have been deeply
shaken by her sacking and her police
escort as she left No 10 after she was
called into a meeting with Cummings
at 8pm.
The acrimony over the very public
sacking of the young advis er, the result
of Cummings’ “zero tolerance” view
of alleged leaks from special advis ers,
will be seen by Johnson’s critics as an
echo of the decision to drive through
the prorogation of parliament this
week – and indicative of the extent of
Cummings’ expanding role.
Both Cummings’ approach to
running Downing Street and the per-
ception Johnson is trying to limit
debate on Brexit have led to criticism
of a governing style devoid of con-
sultation. And it is understood that
even at the top of government there
is growing concern about the poten-
tial reputational damage done by the
recent clearout of female advisers.
Three other women in senior advi-
sory, policy and organisational roles in
the Conservative party have also left
since Johnson became prime minister.
A former Whitehall staff er, who
worked for the May government,
said: “There is a now a climate of fear
operating in government that Dominic
Cummings is trying to create.
“The fact they had her marched
out the front door by a police offi cer- they clearly wanted to make an exam-
ple of her. I think he knows that she’s
absolutely not guilty of what she is
supposed to be guilty of.
“There are now spads [special
advisers] who cross the road not to be
seen with me. People are genuinely
afraid to speak to me. That’s how bad
this culture of fear has got.”
A No 10 spokesman said: “We don’t
comment on individual staffi ng and
personnel matters.”
A fi ery exchange between Cum-
mings and Khan is understood to have
revolved around whether she had had
contact with a former Hammond staff
member. It is understood Khan was
asked to hand over her work phone,
and also presented her personal phone
to Cummings.
Downing Street yesterday made it
clear that Khan was not being blamed
for the leak of the Yellowhammer doc-
uments on no-deal planning.
Whitehall sources confi rmed Khan
was dismissed on the spot because
she had been in contact with people
working with a group of Conservative
politicians trying to block a no-deal
Brexit, and over the claim that she had
lied about her contact with them.
But a source close to her said: “She
was asked about her contact with her
former colleague, she said she had
seen the person socially quite recently
in Westminster – hardly some discreet
part of London. She was open about
it and handed over both her phones.
There’s no law about speaking to for-
mer colleagues.
“He then said you’re fi red. Sonia is
a dyed-in-the-wool Brexiteer – a pas-
sionate leaver – she was loyally behind
the view of the government and deliv-
ery of Brexit.”
It has also emerged yesterday that
there were no witnesses to her sack-
ing by Cummings. A former Whitehall
source said: “She wasn’t off ered to take
anybody with her and she wasn’t told
what the meeting was about.”
A senior ex-civil servant said they
would have expected a representa-
tive from Whitehall or Downing Street
human resources to be present if the
meeting was to involve a special advis-
er’s dismissal.
Sources close to the government
have described an emerging pattern
in the way they have been dismissed,
which they have described as “opaque
and shocking” and not always involv-
ing a clear explanation of what they
have done wrong.
One Tory insider said the way some
former staff ers had been treated by
No 10 was “horrifi c”. A former White-
hall staff er said: “This has been about
brand identity, and the whole “we are
in charge” thing. I can’t see there’s any-
thing strategic or tactical to be gained
by the big boys at No 10 for treating
someone this way.”
The shadow chancellor, John
McDonnell, tweeted: “Would be bet-
ter if Dominic Cummings came along
next week to present the Spending
Review as he’s obviously in charge of
the Treasury as well as No 10.
“If you can’t speak without his per-
mission & can’t even decide your own
staffi ng you’re hardly the Chancellor.”Journal Marina Hyde Page 3 RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws