Scottish Supreme Court rules Boris Johnson unlawfully suspended Parliament

Scotland's highest court of appeal has ruled that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to suspend parliament for five weeks is unlawful and injected even more chaos into an already madcap Brexit fight.

MPs opposing Johnson’s decision had their case dismissed by a judge last week after it was deemed to be a matter for the Commons, not the courts.

But, on Wednesday, a group of around 70 parliamentarians, including the SNP’s Joanna Cherry, won an appeal at the Court of Session where a three-judge panel, led by Lord Carloway, Scotland's senior-most judge, disagreed and ruled the controversial prorogation was, in fact, in breach of the law.

Johnson's advice to Queen Elizabeth II that parliament be prorogued until 14 October "was unlawful because it had the purpose of stymying parliament", a summary of the judgment said.

Summary of judgment at court of session

But the appellate court did not immediately overturn Johnson's order, allowing the UK Supreme Court to make the final decision in an emergency session, called for Sept. 17, which will be held on both the Scottish and English cases, alongside a third challenge brought in the courts in Belfast.

Downing Street said the Government is “disappointed” with the decision and will challenge the ruling at the Supreme Court, the highest judicial body in the country.

A summary handed down today said: "This was an egregious case of a clear failure to comply with generally accepted standards of behaviour of public authorities."

"The UK government needs to bring forward a strong domestic legislative agenda. Proroguing parliament is the legal and necessary way of delivering this." 

In the first reactions, Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, has described the decision of Scottish judges as an important victory for democracy that could allow MPs to return to Westminster.

He urged MPs to return to parliament so they can “open those doors” and hold the Prime Minister to account.

“This is really important. The idea of shutting down parliament offended people across the country and then they felt they weren’t being told the truth.”