Posted by So the decision is in, and as many suspected over the weekend, it is that Boris Johnson acted unlawfully when he prorouged parliament. The ruling does not state the he lied to the queen. The decision was arrived at due to the length of the prorogation and the fact that this led to a loss of scrutiny from the executive. IE it should have been shorter if the true purpose was to prepare for a Queens speech.
Of course conference season is upon us. If it wasn’t for the prorogation, MP’s would not have been sitting now. Jo Swinson, of course, was one of the first to pop up and say that she is heading back to the commons to resume her duties. Duties which she would not have been carrying out had prorogation not happened. Obviously trying to score points among remainers. The Labour conference is in full swing at the moment so they’re in the worst position. If they want it to seem they really didn’t want the prorogation, they should all be on their way back to the house of commons posthaste. With Jeremy Corbyn’s speech scheduled for tomorrow they probably won’t be in a mad rush to get back. He might re-schedule his speech for this afternoon if he really is in a rush though. It will be interesting to see what mitions are up for debate when they all do return.
Most of this court battle has been about vote gathering. Most of the five week period whould have seen parliament not sitting anyway, due to the party conferences. The original reason that most people wanted to reverse the prorogation was to avoid a no-deal Brexit possibility. Thanks to the supposedly impartial Mr Bercow however, that is no longer necessary as the Benn act has been passed. I can’t see a much more parliament can do beyond that. Let’s wait and see though when everyone turns up for work as normal. It will also be interesting to see which Tories turn up, and when, considering their conference is just around the corner.
The British democratic system has long been based on a separation of parliament and law. Today’s decision has massively undermined that traditional separation. Trust in politics is at an all time low and this decision will do nothing to bolster it. Even remainers, when they think logically about it will have to see this as a systemic failure and a massive abuse of power by the non-elected judges in the supreme court.