Shutting down UK parliament unlawful

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to shut parliament for five weeks in the run-up to Brexit was unlawful, Britain’s highest court ruled on Tuesday.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to shut parliament for five weeks in the run-up to Brexit was unlawful, Britain’s highest court ruled on Tuesday in a humiliating rebuke.

The unanimous decision by the supreme court’s 11 presiding judges has thrust Britain’s exit from the EU further into turmoil as the judgment undermines Johnson and gives remainer legislators more scope to oppose his Brexit plans.

“The decision to advise her majesty to prorogue parliament was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification,” supreme court president Brenda Hale said, reading out the historic decision.

“Parliament has not been prorogued. This is the unanimous judgment of all 11 justices,” said the judge.

“It is for parliament, and in particular the speaker and the [House of] Lords speaker, to decide what to do next.”

John Bercow, the speaker of parliament’s House of Commons — where Johnson has lost his majority and most legislators oppose his promise to leave the EU with or without a deal by October 31 — said that the chamber must convene without delay.

“I welcome the supreme court’s judgment that the prorogation of parliament was unlawful,” said Bercow.

“As the embodiment of our parliamentary democracy, the House of Commons must convene without delay.

“To this end, I will now consult the party leaders as a matter of urgency,” Bercow said.

The British pound rallied initially by about a third of a cent against the US dollar after the news on Tuesday, before paring gains slightly, and at 10.05am GMT was 0.25% up on the day at $1.2460.

Parliament was prorogued from September 10 to October 14. The prorogation was approved by Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s politically neutral constitutional head of state, on the advice of the prime minister.

Some legislators, including those thrown out of Johnson’s Conservative Party for rebelling against his Brexit plans, had said that Johnson should resign if he was found to have misled the queen.

“It is impossible for us to conclude, on the evidence which has been put before us, that there was any reason — let alone a good reason — to advise her majesty to prorogue parliament for five weeks,” the judges said in their ruling.

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn called on Johnson to consider his position and call a new election.

“I invite Boris Johnson, in the historic words, to ‘consider his position’,” Corbyn told delegates at Labour’s annual conference in Brighton.