Scottish court hands fresh Brexit blow to Johnson

BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a fresh blow on Wednesday when a Scottish court ruled that his controversial decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to Brexit was unlawful.

The government immediately appealed, with the case set to be heard in the Supreme Court next Tuesday, and parliament set to remain shut in the meantime.

Johnson says the decision to suspend – or prorogue – parliament until October 14 is a routine move allowing his government to launch a new legislative agenda.

But critics accuse him of trying to silence parliamentary opposition to his threat to leave the EU on October 31, even if he has failed to agree on divorce terms with Brussels.

If Johnson fails to secure a deal, he insists the country will leave anyway, to the outrage of many Members of Parliament (MPs) who believe a “nodeal” exit would bring huge disruption.

After the legal ruling, the opposition Labour party demanded that Johnson urgently recall parliament, which was suspended for five weeks on Tuesday.

However, a government source said that “nothing is changing” until the case was concluded.

The case, brought by 78 British lawmakers, was rejected by a Scottish lower court last week but was overturned on Wednesday by the Inner House, Scotland’s supreme civil court.

It found that Johnson’s advice to Queen Elizabeth II to prorogue parliament “was unlawful because it had the purpose of stymying parliament”, a summary judgement said.

A Br i t i s h g ov e r nment spokesman said: “We are disappointed by today’s decision, and will appeal to the UK Supreme Court.

“The UK government needs to bring forward a strong domestic legislative agenda. Proroguing parliament is the legal and necessary way of delivering this.”

He noted that a separate