“The court is bound to conclude... that the decision to advise Her Majesty to prorogue parliament was unlawful,” Supreme Court head Brenda Hale said in the ruling. Parliament has therefore not been prorogued, clarified Hale, leaving it to the Speaker to decide what happens next.
Specifically, the ruling states:
“It is for parliament, and in particular the Speaker and the Lord Speaker, to decide what to do next. Unless there is some parliamentary rule of which we are unaware, they can take immediate steps to enable each House to meet.”
See below links for summary and full judgments.
House of Commons speaker John Bercow on Tuesday said parliament must “convene without delay” after the Supreme Court ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend it earlier this month was unlawful.
Bercow, who has been highly critical of Johnson’s decision, said he would be consulting party leaders “as a matter of urgency”.
Later in the day, Becrow stated:
“I have instructed the House authorities to undertake such steps as are necessary to ensure that the House of Commons sits tomorrow and that it does so at 11:30am (1030 GMT).”
Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has taken to the stage at a Labour conference, saying, Johnson should “in the historic words, consider his position. Corbyn also took the opportunity to note that this would make him “the shortest serving prime minister there has ever been.”
Corbyn also stated “I will be in touch immidately with to demand that parliament is recalled so that we can question the prime minister, demand that he obeys the law that’s been passed by parliament, and recognise that our parliament is elected by our people to hold our government to account.”
Corbyn’s sentiment has also been echoed by MP Joanna Cherry of the SNP (Scottish National Party), who noted that “Boris Johnson’s position is untenable and he should have the guts to resign.”
Welsh nationalist party (Plaid Cymru) leader Liz Saville Roberts is in agreement, stating:
“The supreme court has delivered a damming and unanimous verdict. Boris Johnson has broken the law for undermining the basic principles of democracy. The prime minister has shown himself to be no better than a tin-pot dictator, shutting down democracy to avoid scrutiny.
There is no question, the prime minister must resign immediately and a crash out Brexit stopped once and for all.
In his short time in office Boris Johnson has proven himself to be a deeply dangerous and anti-democratic leader, with no respect for the rule of law. It would be a complete affront to civilised society if the prime minister did not resign after this historic ruling.”
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson says that the judgment shows Johnson is “not fit to be prime minister, stating:
“The court have found what we all knew all along, Boris Johnson has again proven he is not fit to be prime minister ... Given this verdict, parliament should be sitting so that we can continue to question the Conservative government on their disastrous Brexit plans ... It remains the Liberal Democrats priority to stop no-deal Brexit and to stop Brexit altogether.”
Nigel Farage — current Brexit Party leader and formerly of UK Independence Party — is also calling for a resignation, but not Johnson. Instead he points to Dominic Cummings, the PM’s chief of staff:
Updates to follow.
