Fight over PM’s decision to suspend parliament goes to Supreme Court

A panel of 11 justices will decide whether the prorogation of parliament by Boris Johnson was lawful.

The legal battle over Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament for five weeks will go to Britain’s highest court today.

The Supreme Court will hear appeals from two separate challenges brought in England and Scotland over the next three days, following the ruling in Scotland that the prime minister’s prorogation was unlawful.

Mr Johnson advised the Queen to suspend parliament, known as proroguing, for five weeks from 9 September, which she approved at the end of August.

But the move infuriated MPs and campaigners who saw the suspension as a bid to prevent the ongoing debates over Brexit and prevent any progress being made.

Legal challenges were taken to courts in England and Scotland, but judges in England dismissed the case, brought by campaigner Gina Miller, finding the length of the prorogation was “purely political” and “not a matter for the courts”.

But on the same day, the Inner House of the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled that Mr Johnson’s decision was unlawful because “it was motivated by the improper purpose of stymying parliament”.

The ruling led to a Downing Street source suggesting MPs and peers “chose the Scottish courts for a reason”, comments which Nicola Sturgeon called “deeply dangerous”.

Written by BayRadio