MPs and peers have taken part in the traditional ceremony to prorogue Parliament after several controversial pieces of legislation became law. Around 40 MPs, led by Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, filed out of the Commons after their attendance in the Lords was requested by Black Rod Sarah Clarke, a senior Lords officer tasked with leading the ceremony.
An announcement from the Queen, read out by the Lords Leader Baroness Evans of Bowes Park, set out legislation passed during the parliamentary session and other measures taken by the Government. The Elections Act is among several controversial new laws to have received royal assent in a final push ahead of the temporary suspension of Parliament.
Other long-debated pieces of legislation to make it onto the statute books are the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, which includes measures to curtail noisy protests, and the Nationality and Borders Act, which includes powers to send asylum seekers overseas to be processed. An £86,000 cap on the contributions that individuals will make towards social care costs will also become law as part of the Health and Care Act.
Measures aimed at preventing animal cruelty, including the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act, and the Glue Traps (Offences) Act will also become law. Both Houses of Parliament will return on Tuesday, May 10. A Queen’s Speech to announce the Government’s legislative programme for the new parliamentary session will take place on that day.
In 2019, an attempted prorogation of Parliament in the midst of frantic Brexit negotiations, was later ruled unlawful. The move was seen by many opposition politicians and political commentators as a controversial and unconstitutional attempt by the Prime Minister to avoid parliamentary scrutiny of the Government's Brexit plans in those final weeks leading up to Brexit
