UK Supreme Court rules suspension of British parliament unlawful: Here's what some leaders have to say

The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had acted unlawfully when he advised Queen Elizabeth to suspend parliament weeks before Brexit — and that therefore the suspension was void.

Here are some reactions to the ruling:

“I have instructed the house authorities to prepare not for the recall, the prorogation was unlawful and is void, to prepare for the resumption of the business of the House of Commons,” Speaker Of House Of Commons John Bercow said. “Specifically, I’ve instructed the house authorities to undertake such steps as are necessary to ensure that the House of Commons sits tomorrow and that it does so at 11:30 AM.”

“It is my expectation that the House of Lords will resume sitting at the earliest opportunity, and I am in discussions with the Leader of the House of Lords, the Leader of Her Majestys Opposition and the other party leaders about the process,” House Of Lords Speaker Norman Fowler said.

The leader of the Opposition party, Labour, Jeremy Corbyn said, “It demonstrates a contempt for democracy and an abuse of power by him. I will be in touch immediately (with the Speaker) to demand that parliament is recalled so we can question that Prime Minister, demand that he obeys the law that has been passed by parliament and recognise that our parliament has been elected by our people to hold our government to account. A Labour government would want to be held to account.”

“I invite Boris Johnson in the historic words to consider his position,” he told delegates at the Labour Party's annual conference in Brighton.

“Crucially, today's ruling confirms that we are a nation governed by the rule of law, laws that everyone, even the Prime Minister, is not above,” Gina Miller, who was one of the persons who brought the legal action, said. “MPs should turn up for work tomorrow, and get on with scrutinising this government.”

In a tweet, Scottish National Party MP Joanna Cherry, said, “Delighted that UK Supreme Court have followed Scottish court & found that Boris Johnson acted unlawfully in prorogation of UK parliament. We must resume immediately & he must resign,” (sic). Cherry was one of the members who brought case in Scotland.

Scottish National Party's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford said, “This is an absolutely stunning judgment by the Supreme Court today, none of us anticipated that we would have a result such as this,” he said.

“We must be back in parliament immediately, I know the speaker is going to be talking with all the party leaders, we want to get back to work and quite frankly on the back of this Boris Johnson must resign,” he said.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister and Scottish National Party Leader, said, “This is the most significant and historical constitutional court ruling that we've had in all of our lifetimes. Boris Johnson should resign, this is a Prime Minister who has been found by the UK Supreme Court to have acted unlawfully, seeking to evade scrutiny without good reason.”

“If the Prime Minister isn’t prepared to do the decent and honourable thing in tendering his resignation, then I think parliament should quickly come together to force this Prime Minister from office,” she said.

“This confirms what we already knew Boris Johnson isn’t fit to be Prime Minister. Hes misled queen and country, and unlawfully silenced the peoples representatives. Im on my way to resume my duties in the Commons and stop Brexit altogether,” Liberal Democrat Leader Jo Swinson said.

Conservative lawmaker Andrew Bridgen told Reuters that he was deeply disappointed by the judgement. “I am truly ashamed of this Parliament, the sooner we have a General election the better,” he said.

Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster said in a tweet, “We have always respected the principle of the separation of powers upon which our constitutional law is founded. Therefore the judgment of the Supreme Court has to be respected.”

“Boris Johnson has been called out today by the Supreme Court, the highest court in these islands. He has behaved like a tin-pot dictator,” Shami Chakrabarti, the Labour party’s top legal advisor, said in a statement. “Boris Johnson needs to reflect on this judgment and consider his position,” she added.

“The calling of a Queen's Speech and prorogation is the worst political decision ever. Dominic Cummings must go,” Brexit Party’s Nigel Farage said on Twitter, referring to the Prime Minister's senior adviser.

COMMENT NOW