UK Parliament breaks up ahead of election day with pomp, ceremony and hard-nosed politics

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s lawmakers left Parliament on Friday for the last time before an election is held in six weeks. Parliament was prorogued, or formally suspended, in a ceremony featuring hat-doffing, lords in ermine-trimmed robes and commands in Norman French. Before that there was a flurry of last-minute legislation. But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s surprise decision to call a summer election means that some key pieces of legislation had to be abandoned. They include his flagship plan to ban tobacco sales to future generations. The opposition Labour Party, meanwhile, got the news that former leader Jeremy Corbyn plans to run against Labour as an independent. Corbyn was suspended from the party over his reaction to antisemitism allegations.