LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Speaker of parliament reprimanded Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government on Wednesday for disregarding lawmakers with its coronavirus measures, but he closed off an opportunity for a parliamentary rebellion over the restrictions.
“The way in which the government has exercised its powers to make secondary legislation during this crisis has been totally unsatisfactory,” Lindsay Hoyle told parliament, adding some explanations the government had offered on why it had bypassed parliament showed a “total disregard” for lawmakers.
But he said he would not allow parliament to vote on an amendment by senior Conservative Graham Brady which would force the government to get parliamentary approval before any further national restrictions were imposed.
(Reporting by William James, writing by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Stephen Addison)
