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UK Parliament speaker says he would accept debate on independence

  • John Bercow says MPs should have freedom of speech and immunity and remembers jailed leader Forcadell's visit

VilaWeb
14.02.2019 - 09:30
Actualització: 14.02.2019 - 10:30

The speaker of the House of Commons at the UK Parliament, John Bercow, said that he would accept a debate on independence in the chamber. After a question by MP Hywel Williams, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Catalonia, Bercow said he would greenlight a discussion over a potential breakup of Wales.

https://twitter.com/HywelPlaidCymru/status/1095694961524330499

“It is of course entirely orderly for there to be a debate in this house on Welsh independence” he stated. “Members enjoy immunity for the words they utter in this chamber, and can come to no grief as a result of their freedom of expression.”

He further said that on the matter raised by Williams, he and his colleagues are “very content with [their] arrangements.” “I think,” concluded Bercow, “that they could, perhaps—in important respects—be imitated by others who proclaim a commitment to democracy.”

Spain’s human rights abuses

 In his response, he also talked about one of the jailed leaders facing trial, Carme Forcadell, the former Catalan parliament speaker.  “I well remember welcoming Carme Forcadell when she came to this place, it was a privilege to do so,” he said.
The chair of the All-Party Group on Catalona in the UK Parliament, Hywel Williams, said hours before the start of the Catalan referendum trial that the British government “must stand up to Spain’s human rights abuses” on the jailed leaders, whose trial started on Tuesday in the Supreme Court, in Madrid.

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