Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Well, its official: as of the morning of Tuesday 24 September 2019, the UK Supreme Court has ruled against the Prime Minister’s prorogation of the Westminster Parliament for 5 weeks.
In a unanimous decision, the 11 Justices of the Supreme Court have declared that the suspension of Parliament was unlawful.
The decision of the Court of Session (in the Petition of Joanna Cherry MP and Others) has been approved by the Supreme Court.
The decision of the English High Court to rule against Gina Miller has also been overturned.
As Baroness Hale succinctly stated:
“It is impossible for us to conclude, on the evidence which has been put before us, that there was any reason – let alone a good reason – to advise Her Majesty to prorogue Parliament for five weeks, from 9th or 12th September until 14th October. We cannot speculate, in the absence of further evidence, upon what such reasons might have been. It follows that the decision was unlawful.”
Video footage of the decision of the Court, delivered by Baroness Hale of Richmond (its President), can be found below:
The House of Commons will now reconvene on Wednesday 25 September 2019.
Links to the full judgements (and summaries of these decisions) can be found below:
R (on the application of Miller) (Appellant) v The Prime Minister (Respondent) Cherry and others (Respondents) v Advocate General for Scotland (Appellant) (Scotland) [2019] UKSC 41 (On appeals from: [2019] EWHC 2381 (QB) and [2019] CSIH 49)
Click to access uksc-2019-0192-judgment.pdf
Click to access uksc-2019-0192-summary.pdf
Click to access uksc-2019-0192-judgment.pdf
Click to access uksc-2019-0192-summary.pdf
Copyright Seán J Crossan, 24 September 2019
Seán Crossan's Scots Law 