Opposition MP Barry Sheerman unleashes furious rant at Geoffrey Cox after he blasts Parliament

Jacob Jarvis25 September 2019
WEST END FINAL

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An opposition MP unleashed a furious rant at Geoffrey Cox as the Commons descended into a "rant-fest".

Barry Sheerman, the Labour and Co-operative MP for Huddersfield, hit out at the Attorney General after said Parliament was "dead" and it had no "moral right" to sit.

Responding to the comments, Mr Sheerman said: "Mr Speaker, I came into the chamber today thinking I felt sorry for the Attorney General.

"But every word he has uttered, no shame today, no shame at all.

"The fact that this Government cynically manipulated the prorogation to shut down this House so that it wouldn't work as a democratic assembly. He knows that's the truth."

He went on: "To come here with his barrister’s bluster, to obfuscate the truth and for a man like him, a party like this and a leader like this, this Prime Minister to talk about morals and morality, is a disgrace.”

Replying to the rant, Mr Cox said: "I'm not sure I could discern in that marshmallow of rhetoric any actual question.

"In so far there was a question, there's an answer.

"If the honourable gentleman thinks that the Government should no longer be governing, tell his leader to bring a motion of no confidence this afternoon, tell his leader to agree to a simple one line statute that fixes the election by a simple majority, and we would be delighted to meet him, wherever he chooses, in front of the electorate."

The ferocious back and forths prompted Mr Bercow to describe the scenes as an "unattractive rant-fest".

MPs argued as they sat for the first session of Parliament as it resumed following the Supreme Court ruling yesterday.

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