Boris Johnson update: “No prime minister must ever treat the monarch or Parliament in this way again”
Boris Johnson is facing calls to resign after the Supreme Court found he had broken the law by asking the Queen to suspend parliament.
On Tuesday, justices ruled the British PM’s decision to shut down parliament for five weeks was “unlawful” because it stopped MPs from carrying out their duties in the leadup to the Brexit deadline.
“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,” said Lady Hale, president of the Supreme Court.
The court said the prorogation on September 9 risked “that responsible government may be replaced by unaccountable government: the antithesis of the democratic model”.
Opposition leaders and at least one government minister have called for Johnson’s resignation.
“The government will be held to account for what it has done. Boris Johnson has been found to have misled the country. This unelected prime minister should now resign,” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said at a party conference.
Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson said the ruling showed that Johnson “is not fit to be prime minister”, while Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon said “parliament should quickly come together to force this prime minister from office” if he would not “do the decent and honourable thing in tendering his resignation”.
Critics also accused Johnson of misleading the Queen, whose formal approval was needed to suspend the parliament.
“He’s misled queen and country, and unlawfully silenced the people’s representatives,” said Swinson.
Former Conservative prime minister Sir John Major said after the ruling that “no prime minister must ever treat the monarch or Parliament in this way again”.
Johnson said despite the “unusual judgment”, he “would not be deterred” in his plan to take the UK out of the European Union on October 31.
“I have the highest respect of course for our judiciary and the independence of our courts but I must say I strongly disagree with this judgment,” he said.