This rotten House of Commons should dissolve itself and hold a general election

Boris Johnson is right when he says Brexit needs to be delivered to honour the 2016 referendum and the promises made by successive Prime Ministers. He is right to seek a deal but ask the country to prepare for no deal. He is also right to have twice called for a General Election.

The Supreme Court is right to uphold the Sovereignty of Parliament. The judges ruled on the law not on the politics of the situation. Laws, all laws tend to have a political consequence. Much of politics is about debating and passing laws. Politics and the law are inextricably intertwined.

But Parliament, this Parliament, this particular House of Commons, is wrong not to have approved the means to facilitate Brexit. It was wrong to have actively worked to obstruct an approvable Brexit process. This House of Commons is also wrong to have obstructed the calling of a General Election.

The Queen, whose power has been directly challenged today on Prorogation, would be right to feel aggrieved today that she has been drawn into this political mess and will be concerned that other prerogative powers could well end up being challenged in the future. The political power and influence of the monarch, which is real and considerable, is in for a period of testing. This will not be welcomed at Buckingham Palace.

For a while now this House of Commons has been beyond its political sell-by date, its deliberations curdled by intransigence and its decisions increasingly rotten. Only the appalling Fixed Term Parliament Act has kept it going. Nevertheless, Parliament is now to resume sitting and to continue with the business it had at hand before it was interrupted. It is to carry on as if nothing had happened. You could be forgiven if your heart sank a bit at the prospect. In truth however it is a heaven-sent opportunity for this House of Commons to sort itself out and redeem its reputation before the inevitable reckoning at the ballot box by doing the following.

Repeal the appalling Fixed Term Parliament Act. We need a General Election, and possibly a couple, to establish where the new political equilibrium is in British politics. For the House of Commons to be authoritative it must represent the people. Palpably it does not do that at the moment.

The House of Commons needs to stop simply saying what it’s against and to start working out what it will do. MPs are very good at blocking and defeating, but not so good at approving and building. In the process they are destroying their own reputations as responsible legislators. MPs can’t go on saying they will not approve a Brexit deal, they will not permit a Brexit no-deal, and they will not allow a general election to take place. MPs as a whole are responsible for the parliamentary deadlock.

The Prime Minister must be allowed the time to bring a deal forward, and if he does so he should be supported and the deal approved. If he cannot negotiate a deal and the House of Commons will not permit a no deal Brexit they cannot reasonably expect to force him to go to Brussels to ask for an extension which he is passionately opposed to. It would be an incredible request. Neither should they seek to drive him from office through this expediency. The House of Commons must agree to the Prime Minister’s request for a general election.

This is a moment of huge opportunity, as well as risk, for this House of Commons, and this generation of Members of Parliament. If they sort themselves out and follow through on these three actions then they have a unique opportunity to restore calm and order to the heart of our democracy. If they return to Westminster to simply resume their previous antics then we are in for even more trouble.

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