mnesty International and Liberty are staging a ‘Henry VIII eats Parliament’ stunt in Westminster on Monday (11 December, 1pm) to highlight human rights campaigners’ concerns with how the Government is treating people’s rights in the EU Withdrawal Bill.

The stunt will see a fully-costumed Henry VIII impersonator being served and partially consuming a giant Houses of Parliament cake.

The cake, made by a specialist firm of London bakers, will be served to the famously big-appetited king on a silver platter by waiters immediately opposite the actual Houses of Parliament in Westminster.

After the formally-attired waiters have, with the appropriate ceremony, served the outsized cake, Henry VIII will carve it up – Big Ben tower and all – with large silver cutlery while drinking from a 16th-century-style goblet.

The stunt comes ahead of major debates in Parliament on Tuesday and Wednesday over the wide-ranging law-making powers that would be handed to ministers under the EU Withdrawal Bill. Cross-party MPs are rallying behind amendments that would introduce greater parliamentary scrutiny of the ‘great copy and paste’ of EU law into UK law, and prevent the Government from using their powers to roll back people’s rights and freedoms.

Amnesty and Liberty have warned that, in its current form, the EU Withdrawal Bill allows ministers to take away essential existing human rights and equality protections stemming from EU membership without fully consulting Parliament.
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