By Laurie Laird
LONDON (Mace News) – The U.K.’s highest court has ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament is “void and of no effect,” after determining that the government’s order to do so was “unlawful.”
“This court has concluded that the [order to suspend the legislature] should be quashed … Parliament has not been prorogued,” said the President of the Court, Lady Brenda Hale, adding that the 11 justices were unanimous in their decision.
Ahead of the ruling, the government had pledged to “abide by” the court’s decision, but had refused to rule out re-imposing a suspension, regardless of the court pronouncement. Prime Minister Johnson is currently in New York attending meetings at the United Nations.
The hearing, which took place from 17-19 September, followed the government’s decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks, the longest suspension since World War II. Johnson and his allies claimed the break was necessary to prepare a new legislative program, to be presented to parliament on 14 October.
However, opponents, who included a former Conservative prime minister, argued that the break was intended to prevent scrutiny of the government’s Brexit plans. Johnson has vowed to leave the European Union on 31 October, even if his government is unable to agree a withdraw program with the Union’s 27 remaining members.
In the wake of the government defeat, Lady Hale ruled that speakers of both parliamentary chambers may take “immediate steps to enable each House to meet as soon as possible,” adding that there were no measures “needed from the Prime Minister.”
Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has welcomed the Supreme Court’s judgement has called for the chamber to “convene with out delay.”
— Courtesy of MT Newswires