London: Boris Johnson's suspension of parliament is unlawful, says court

London, September 11: Scotland’s highest civil court has ruled that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suspension of the UK Parliament is unlawful. A panel of three judges at the Court of Session gave the ruling in favour of a cross-party group of politicians who were challenging the prime minister's move.

 

The decision overturns an earlier ruling from the court, which said last week that Boris Johnson had not broken the law. But, it will not immediately affect the current suspension of Parliament, which started in the early hours of Tuesday.

This is because no order has been given by the court to cancel the suspension ahead of a full hearing at the Supreme Court in London which starts on Tuesday of next week.

In a summary of their findings, the Court of Session judges said they were unanimous in their belief that the Prime Minister's decision to suspend was motivated by what they called the improper purpose of stymying Parliament.

MPs are not currently scheduled to return to Parliament until 14 October, when there will be a Queen's Speech outlining Mr Johnson's legislative plans. The UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October.