COURT VOIDS JOHNSON’S PROROGATION
BRITISH PM VOWS TO FIGHT AFTER UNANIMOUS RULING
Boris Johnson will try this week to force a general election after accusing Britain’s highest court of frustrating “the will of the people” by overruling his decision to prorogue parliament.
The prime minister will fly back early from the United States after the Supreme Court made the unprecedented decision that he had acted unlawfully and therefore the suspension was “void and of no effect.”
John Bercow, the Speaker, will reconvene the Commons on Sept. 25 after the judges said it was up to him — not Johnson — to “take immediate steps” to recall MPS.
Downing Street said the Supreme Court had made a “serious mistake in extending its reach to these political matters,” while legal experts accused the 11 judges of “judicial activism” in radically curtailing the centuries-old constitutional powers of government.
The justices chose the most extreme possible course of action in unanimously ruling that the prime minister had misled the Queen, acted unlawfully and therefore said: “Parliament has not been prorogued.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn led calls for Johnson to resign and said he would do all he could to ensure that Johnson takes a so-called nodeal Brexit “off the table.”
A spokesman for Corbyn said Labour was discussing all possible ways to force Johnson to respect a law that forces him to request a delay to Brexit if no deal is struck with Brussels at an EU summit on Oct. 17-18.
But the question is whether the opposition will be able to work together. One Labour lawmaker said the opposition party would “make him ( Johnson) wriggle on his own hook” rather than move for a no- confidence vote.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump, who met Johnson during a United Nations summit in New York on Sept. 24, said: “I’ll tell you, I know him well, he’s not going anywhere.” He added: “For him it’s just another day at the office,” and said Brexit was necessary and “it takes a man like this to get it done.”
Johnson spoke to the Queen from New York, but neither Downing Street nor Buckingham Palace would disclose whether he had apologized to her. The decision also throws into doubt the Queen’s speech scheduled for Oct. 14. A government official said: “As it stands, no prorogation means no Queen’s speech.”
Jacob Rees- Mogg, the Leader of the House, is understood to have described the court’s decision as a “constitutional coup” during a trans- Atlantic conference call between the prime minister and the cabinet. Cabinet sources said Johnson is expected to table a vote on an early election.
Senior cabinet ministers have urged the prime minister to prorogue Parliament for a second time if he loses that vote, effectively defying the courts to stop him.
A government source said: “Proroguing parliament again would not be without risk, but every time the courts and others try to stop the prime minister, it reinforces the point that the government is fighting a lone battle to carry out the will of the people.”
The Supreme Court ruled that Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament for five weeks “was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions.”
The ruling means that no prime minister will be able to exercise their prerogative right to suspend Parliament without the risk of being overruled by MPS or the courts. It takes power away from the prime minister and puts it in the hands of Parliament and the Speaker.
Johnson said: “I strongly disagree with this decision of the Supreme Court. I have the utmost respect for our judiciary, I don’t think this was the right decision...
“We in the U. K. will not be deterred from getting on and delivering on the will of the people to come out of the EU on Oct. 31 because that was what we were mandated to do.” A government source said: “The massed ranks of the establishment are trying to frustrate the biggest democratic vote in our history.”
A Comres poll for The Daily Telegraph recently found that despite the ruling, 60 per cent of voters believe Parliament has had
WE IN THE U.K. WILL NOT BE DETERRED FROM GETTING ON AND DELIVERING ON THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE EU ON OCT. 31.
plenty of time to debate Brexit and Britain should “get on with” leaving the EU.
Labour and Remain-backing MPS are now expected to table motions in Parliament demanding the release of the legal advice on prorogation given to the government by Attorney General Geoffrey Cox.
They will also take steps to ensure there are no loopholes in a new law, which forces the prime minister to ask for an extension to Article 50 if he fails to agree a deal with the EU next month. It remains unclear whether the Speaker, Bercow, will allow the government to table a third motion for an early election.