Government Response

The Government responded to this petition on Monday 2nd September 2019

The Government has no plans to recall Parliament and it will meet again on 3 September, the date the House itself voted on and agreed to.

On 24 June, the House of Commons voted on and agreed the date it would rise for summer recess as well as the date of its return on 3 September. This was passed by a majority of 198 MPs.

When Parliament is in recess, it can only be recalled when Government Ministers make the case to the Speaker of the House of Commons, that it is in the public interest for the House of Commons to reconvene.

Once Ministers have made representations, it is for the Speaker of the House of Commons to determine whether it is in the public interest for the House to meet and it is for the Speaker to appoint a time for the House to meet.

The last time the House of Commons was recalled was on 20 June 2016 to pay tribute to Jo Cox MP. Prior to that, Parliament was recalled in 2014 for the purposes of a debate on “the use of UK air strikes to support Iraqi, including Kurdish, security forces’ efforts against ISIL in Iraq”.

The Government would only initiate proceedings to recall Parliament when it is clearly in the public interest to do so. When considering whether to recall Parliament, the Government must take account of the urgency of the situation and the cost of reopening Parliament.

The Prime Minister believes strongly Parliament must have time to consider further the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, and to hold the government to account. Parliament will return in good time before the European Council and will be sitting for three weeks prior to exit day.

There will be ample time to debate the UK leaving the EU in the coming weeks, on both sides of the summit on 17 October. Therefore, the Government has no plans to recall Parliament.

The UK will be leaving the EU on 31 October whatever the circumstances. We must respect the referendum result.

Cabinet Office.