Brexit in chaos after court rules PM's suspension of parliament unlawful

In this image taken from video on Wednesday, Sept 11, 2019. Lord Carloway, Scotland's most senior judge: speaks at a court in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Scottish court ruled that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend the U.K. Parliament was unlawful, but did not order the suspension overturned. Judges said Britain’s Supreme Court must make the final decision. (UK Pool/Sky News via AP)

In this image taken from video on Wednesday, Sept 11, 2019. Lord Carloway, Scotland's most senior judge: speaks at a court in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Scottish court ruled that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend the U.K. Parliament was unlawful, but did not order the suspension overturned. Judges said Britain’s Supreme Court must make the final decision. (UK Pool/Sky News via AP)

Published Sep 11, 2019

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LONDON - Prime Minister Boris Johnson's

suspension of the British parliament was unlawful, a Scottish

court ruled on Wednesday, prompting immediate calls for

lawmakers to return to work as the government and parliament

battle over the future of Brexit.

Scotland's highest court of appeal ruled that Johnson's

decision to prorogue, or suspend, parliament from Monday until

Oct. 14 was unlawful -- a blow for the government as it seeks to

leave the European Union on Oct. 31 with or without a deal.

With seven weeks until Britain is due to leave the EU, the

government and parliament are locked in conflict over the future

of Brexit, with possible outcomes ranging from leaving without a

deal to another referendum that could cancel the divorce.

"We are calling for parliament to be recalled immediately,"

said Scottish National Party lawmaker Joanna Cherry, who led the

challenge, after Scotland's Court of Session ruled the

prorogation should be annulled.

"You cannot break the law with impunity, Boris Johnson."

The government will appeal against the ruling to the Supreme

Court, the United Kingdom's highest judicial body, and an

official said Johnson believed parliament remained suspended

pending a decision by that court.

Still, a group of opposition lawmakers gathered outside the

800-year-old Palace of Westminster demanding its recall.

Johnson announced on Aug. 28 that parliament would be

prorogued, saying the government wanted the suspension so it

could then launch a new legislative agenda.

Opponents said the real reason was to shut down debate and

challenges to his Brexit plans. The court was shown documents

that showed Johnson was considering prorogation weeks before he

formally asked Queen Elizabeth to suspend the legislature.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the ruling, saying

it was a matter for the government.

Dominic Grieve, one of 21 Brexit rebels thrown out of

Johnson's Conservative Party last week, said that if Johnson had

misled the queen, he should resign.

Johnson, who was a figurehead for the Vote Leave campaign in

the 2016 referendum, when 52 percent of voters backed Brexit,

has rejected opposition complaints that he was denying

parliament the right to debate Brexit in an undemocratic way.

BREXIT UP FOR GRABS

Johnson's bid to quit the bloc "do or die" on Oct. 31 has

hit the buffers: parliament has ordered him to delay Brexit

until 2020 unless he strikes a deal while a new Brexit Party is

threatening to poach Conservative voters.

After three years of tortuous Brexit crisis, British

politics is in turmoil, with the prime minister blocked by

parliament and an election or even a second referendum on the

cards.

In an excoriating judgment, the Scottish judges ruled the

principal reason for parliament's suspension was to stymie

lawmakers and allow Johnson to pursue a no-deal Brexit policy.

"This was an egregious case of a clear failure to comply

with generally accepted standards of behaviour of public

authorities," concluded one judge, Philip Brodie, according to a

summary of the court verdict.

Judge James Drummond Young had determined that "the only

inference that could be drawn was that the UK government and the

Prime Minister wished to restrict Parliament", it added.

Last week, the High Court of England and Wales rejected a

similar challenge by campaigners, was a political not a judicial

matter.

LABOUR SPLITS

The 2016 Brexit referendum showed a United Kingdom divided

about much more than the EU, and has given rise to

soul-searching about everything from secession and immigration

to capitalism, empire and modern Britishness.

It has also triggered civil war inside both of Britain’s

main political parties as dozens of lawmakers put what they see

as the United Kingdom's fate above that of party loyalty.

The divisions in the opposition Labour Party over Brexit

were on display on Wednesday, when its deputy leader, Tom

Watson, said he supported pressing for a second referendum

before an early national election.

"So let's deal with Brexit, in a referendum, where every

person can have their say, and then come together and fight an

election on Labour's positive social agenda on our own terms,

not on Boris Johnson's Brexit 'do or die'," he said in a speech

in London.

His argument, which puts him at odds with leader Jeremy

Corbyn, is that an election might fail to resolve the deadlock

over Brexit. Corbyn says Labour would offer the people a second

referendum on a credible option to leave against remaining in

the EU after an election.

Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party which could take

votes away from both main parties, offered Johnson an election

pact on Wednesday but said that unless there was a clean break

with the EU, the Conservatives would take a "real kicking" in

any election and could not win a majority.

"If we go beyond the 31st of October and we are still a

member of the European Union - which looks increasingly likely -

then a lot of votes will shift from the Conservative Party to

the Brexit Party," Farage told reporters.

Johnson ruled out a pact with Farage.

Reuters

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