Boris Johnson Declines To Rule Out Suspending Parliament Again

The UK’s highest court will give its historic ruling on Tuesday over the legality of the five-week suspension of Parliament.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has been accused of an unlawful “abuse of power”, will be in the United States when the Supreme Court announces its findings, following an unprecedented hearing last week.

Eleven justices have been asked to determine whether his advice to the Queen to prorogue parliament, for what opponents describe as an “exceptionally long” period, was unlawful.

Johnson was asked whether he was nervous about the Supreme Court judgment in an interview in New York, and replied: “It takes a lot to make me nervous these days.

“All I can tell you is that I have the highest regard for the judiciary in this country, I will look at the ruling with care.”

He was questioned by reporters on the flight to New York over whether he would resign if the Government lost.

“I will wait and see what the justices decide, the Supreme Court decides, because as I’ve said before I believe that the reasons for…wanting a Queen’s speech were very good indeed,” he said.

Asked whether he would rule out proroguing parliament again before the current October 31 Brexit deadline, the PM replied: “I’m saying that parliament will have bags of time to scrutinise the deal that I hope we will be able to do.”

Johnson advised the Queen on August 28 to prorogue parliament for five weeks, and it was suspended on September 9 until October 14.

The PM says the five-week suspension is to allow the government to set out a new legislative agenda in a Queen’s Speech when MPs return to parliament.

But those who brought legal challenges argue the prorogation is designed to prevent parliamentary scrutiny of the UK’s impending exit from the EU on October 31.

The Supreme Court heard appeals over three days arising out of separate legal challenges in England and Scotland, in which leading judges reached different conclusions.