Lessons from Britain

The UK Supreme Court has shown that it can rule independent of the interest of the government of the day, something judiciaries in other democracies can emulate. Its unanimous ruling that the prorogation of the British Parliament by Prime Minister Boris Johnson was unlawful, upheld the Parliament’s sovereignty and its supremacy over the government.

It was a ruling that is relevant and applicable to our own country as its Parliament is modelled on the British system. The UK top court made it clear that if the ruling vindicated the opposition’s stand on the prorogation of the Parliament and benefitted it in the political tussle to get the upper hand, it was only incidental to its establishing the illegality of the prorogation.

The real intent for prorogation was to stymie parliamentary scrutiny at the crucial stage of negotiations of the deal for Brexit. Despite a string of political and legal setbacks like losing parliamentary majority and receiving court strictures for preventing the Parliament from doing its job and attracting the charge of stifling democracy, Johnson declared that the ruling — with which he strongly disagreed and termed a serious mistake — would not deter him from delivering Brexit on the October 31 deadline.

There is now considerable uncertainty over Brexit. The Labour Party’s stand is that Johnson has no mandate for a no-deal Brexit and the crisis can be settled only by a general election. London must get an extension from Brussels to avert the risk of its crashing out of EU without a deal.

G David Milton Maruthancode