Supreme Court ruling: Your questions answered
We answer some of your questions about the Supreme Court ruling that suspending Parliament was unlawful. …
Image copyright Getty Images The UK Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suspension of Parliament was unlawful.
We’ve chosen a sample of the questions we received from readers on this subject.
Will Parliament be reconvened? – Ollie Andrews-Heywood
Yes.
The Supreme Court ruled that the prorogation was void – that is, it didn’t actually take place. Parliament doesn’t have to be formally “recalled”.
Speaker John Bercow says he has issued instructions to ensure the House of Commons is ready to resume business as quickly as possible.
He says it will now sit on Wednesday, the day after the judgement.
Did the Prime Minister mislead the Queen? – Anon
The Supreme Court does not go as far as Scotland’s Court of Session, which said that the PM had “an improper purpose” when he advised the Queen to prorogue Parliament.
The key quote from the Supreme Court judgement is in paragraph 61: “It is impossible for us to conclude on the evidence… that there was any reason – let alone a good reason – to advise Her Majesty to prorogue Parliament for five weeks.”
Will Boris Johnson now face a no confidence vote? – Christine Philips
That will depend on when and if Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calls one.
If the leader of the opposition introduces the motion, convention means the government will provide time for a debate to take place.
If one more MP votes in favour of, than against, the motion, “that this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government,” then either an alternative government must be formed within 14 days or a general election is triggered.
A complicating factor is that, if a vote of no confidence was successful now and a general election was triggered, it could mean Brexit taking place during the election campaign.
It’s still widely expected that there will be an early election at some point because the government has no working majority. But the timing is very unclear.
How did each of the judges vote on the issue? – Anon
Lady Hale said the decision was unanimous, meaning all 11 justices agreed that the prorogation was unlawful.
The justices are appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of a panel of legal experts from each of the UK’s nations. Applicants must have been a High Court judge for at least two years, or a practising lawyer for 15.
Does this open the way for all decisions by government to be challenged in the courts? – Anon
It’s already the case that decisions by government can be challenged in the courts.
One of the functions of the judiciary is to oversee the appropriate use of power by public bodies, including the government – through a process called judicial review.
The courts can’t challenge every government decision, only those that fall into the grounds for judicial review – that is, if a body is failing in its legal duty to act in a certain way, or it is acting in a way that goes beyond its legal powers.
In this case it ruled that there was “no doubt that the courts have jurisdiction”.
What difference would five weeks make to MPs solving the Brexit deadlock? – Anon
The Supreme Court doesn’t say it would.
What it does say is that one of Parliament’s main responsibilities is to scrutinise the government, particularly at important moments, such as in the run up to Brexit.
By proroguing Parliament “without reasonable justification”, the government had prevented Parliament from carrying out this job.
Isn’t the House of Commons in recess for three weeks anyway, for party political conferences? – Jami Burrows, Ipswich
Recess does not happen automatically. MPs get a vote on it – unlike whether Parliament is prorogued.
Because of prorogation, MPs did not vote on whether to break for the political conferences.
As they are not on recess, they can return to Parliament – and Commons Speaker John Bercow says this will happen on Wednesday.
Can the government appeal to the European court? – Anon
No, even if it wanted to it can’t.
The European Court of Justice only rules on issues relating to the interpretation of EU law and disputes between member states.
Because this is a domestic, constitutional issue the European court has no jurisdiction.
Does this decision mean that bills thrown out during the shutdown can be reinstated? – Anon
Yes it does.
Parliament effectively goes back in time to 9 September, the day before prorogation took place.
All the bills which were thrown out will be reinstated. This includes the trade bill and four other Brexit-related bills relating to immigration, agriculture, financial services and fisheries.
It also brings back five other bills concerning, for example, domestic abuse, animal cruelty and divorce law reform. The bills will now pick up from the stage they had reached.
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