What’s Boris Johnson’s next move after damning UK court ruling?
- UK PM forced to cut short his visit to New York after his decision to shut down the parliament was ruled as ‘unlawful’ by the country’s Supreme Court
This means that he had deliberately misled Queen Elizabeth when he sent the lord president of the Privy Council Jacob Rees-Mogg to ask for permission to prorogue the parliament.
“The effect upon the fundamentals of our democracy was extreme,” said Brenda Hale, president of the UK Supreme Court.
“The court is bound to conclude, therefore, that the decision to advise Her Majesty to prorogue parliament was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification.”
MPs will return to Westminster, two weeks after the prorogation shut down both Houses, which Johnson justified to prepare for a queen’s speech to reset the parliament – but which his opponents claimed was done to prevent scrutiny of his plans for Brexit.