Mrs Loiseau said on Twitter: “We could see a Brexit without an accord coming. But now, [the possibility of] a Brexit without a debate is also emerging. “Which disease is British democracy suffering from [for the government to be] so afraid of engaging in debate just before making one of the most important decisions in its history?” Mrs Loiseau has maintained a hardline stance on Brexit, stressing when she was France’s EU chief that the exit deal struck between Mr Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May and Brussels late last year was not up for renegotiation.
In March, she poked fun at Brexiteers by saying she was considering getting a cat and calling it Brexit.
She said in a Facebook post: “I’ve ended up calling my cat Brexit. It wakes me up meowing like crazy every morning because it wants to go out, but as soon as I open the door, it just sits there undecided and then looks angry when I put it outside.”
Her latest comments came after Mr Johnson’s decision to limit lawmakers’ opportunities to derail his Brexit plans by restricting the amount of time they are to sit in parliament before the October 31 deadline.
The move, which had to be approved by the Queen, also increases the chance he could face a vote of no-confidence, and possibly a snap election.
The Queen’s advisers, known as the Privy Council, said in a statement that parliament would be suspended on a day between September 9 and September 12, until October 14.
Seeking to play down the controversy, Mr Johnson told reporters that “there will be ample time in parliament for MPs to debate the EU, to debate Brexit and all other issues”.
Asked whether he was trying to block lawmakers from delaying the Brexit divorce, he replied: “That is completely untrue”.
However, his decision to limit parliamentary scrutiny weeks before Brexit drew a chorus of criticism from those opposed to a disorderly divorce.
Speaker John Bercow said: “It is blindingly obvious that the purpose of prorogation now would be to stop parliament debating Brexit and performing its duty in shaping a course for the country.”
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, for her part, urged MPs to “stop” Mr Johnson, adding: “Today will go down in history as a dark one indeed for UK democracy.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would call a no-confidence vote when the time was right.
Opposition leaders had agreed on Tuesday to use parliamentary procedure to force Mr Johnson to ask for another delay to Brexit. But they may now try to topple his government.
Mr Johnson, however, has argued that the move was designed to allow his government to press on with its domestic agenda.
He says he wants to agree a divorce deal with Brussels, but first needs the bloc to change its position on the Irish border backstop, a key sticking point among Brexiteers.
The bloc says that the backstop – an insurance clause designed to prevent the return of a hard border between EU-member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland – is needed to protect EU single market rules and Irish stability.
Brexiteers argue that the backstop would be used to permanently trap the UK in a customs union with the EU and prevent it from striking its own trade deals.
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