Eleven Supreme Court justices have found in favour of a Scottish court that ruled Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament was unlawful.
Having decided unanimously that it is indeed within the power of the courts to intervene, the judges then ruled that the prime minister was acting unlawfully when he advised the Queen to prorogue parliament.
Supreme Court president Lady Hale said: “This was not a normal prorogation.”
She added: “This prolonged suspension of parliamentary democracy took place in quite exceptional circumstances … the effect on the fundamentals of our democracy was extreme.”
She continued: “The court is bound to conclude therefore that the decision to advise the Queen to prorogue parliament was unlawful.”
She concluded that the prorogation was “unlawful, void and of no effect”.
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The ruling sides with the litigants’ claim that the prorogation was deliberately in order to frustrate the will of parliament, which has blocked Boris Johnson’s approach to leaving the EU on October 31 at all costs – including without a withdrawal agreement with the EU.
But the ruling means that the Speaker must now decide what to do next, and may take immediate steps to decide to reopen parliament.
Johnson, who is currently abroad at a UN summit, has not said whether or not he will resign at the verdict.
He also did not guarantee whether or not he would attempt a second prorogation.
The case is a second resounding victory for litigant Gina Miller, who last year won a case declaring that the government’s decision to revoke Article 50 must be put to a vote in parliament.
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