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Tuesday 24 September 2019 10:59
Supreme Court news – live: Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan thrown into chaos as judges decide his government illegally shut down parliament
Follow all the latest developments
The Supreme Court has ruled against Boris Johnson by declaring his government unlawfully shut down parliament for five weeks.
The 11 judges handed down the historic verdict this morning, leading MPs and campaigners to demand that the prime minister recalls parliament immediately. Speaker John Bercow said the Commons must “convene without delay”.
Elsewhere, Jeremy Corbyn is facing an angry backlash at his party’s annual conference in Brighton after a plan to force Labour to back Remain was voted down.
Reaction to the historic ruling.
Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said: “Strong judgement from the court proves Boris Johnson has no regard for the law. Yet again he has been found out. The sooner we resume our work challenging and defeating him the better.”
Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said the decision by the Supreme Court confirms that Boris Johnson “isn’t fit to be Prime Minister”.
“He’s misled Queen and country, and unlawfully silenced the people’s representatives,” she tweeted. “I’m on my way to resume my duties in the Commons and stop Brexit altogether.”
Green MP Caroline Lucas has said the Supreme Court’s decision is “just the start”.
“Supreme Court decision has stopped Johnson in his tracks,” she tweeted. “Parliament cannot be swept aside by prime ministerial whim. It must resume immediately.
“This is just the start. Our democracy won’t be safe until we have a written constitution, protecting our rights and rule of law.”
BREAKING: Speaker John Bercow said MPs must now “convene without delay”.
He said: “I welcome the Supreme Court’s judgement that the prorogation of Parliament was unlawful.
“The judges have rejected the Government’s claim that closing down Parliament for five weeks was merely standard practice to allow for a new Queen’s Speech.
“In reaching their conclusion, they have vindicated the right and duty of Parliament to meet at this crucial time to scrutinise the executive and hold Ministers to account.
“As the embodiment of our Parliamentary democracy, the House of Commons must convene without delay. To this end, I will now consult the party leaders as a matter of urgency.”
Lady Hale said: “The court is bound to conclude therefore that the decision to advise Her Majesty to prorogue was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions.”
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BREAKING: Supreme Court decides suspension of parliament was unlawful.
Lady Hale says all 11 judges were unanimous in deciding that the case is “justiciable”, so the government loses that part of the argument.
Lady Hale is now summarising the whole case ahead of delivering the Supreme Court verdict on the suspension of parliament.
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Our home affairs correspondent Lizzie Dearden is in the Supreme Court this morning, and will be reporting live on the verdict – expected at around 10.30am.
Protesters – both pro and anti-Brexit – have begun to gather in the rain outside the Supreme Court awaiting this morning’s historic ruling.
Gina Miller is among the early arrivals at the Supreme Court for the verdict on the prorogation of parliament.
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Business secretary Andrea Leadsom has been speaking about the Supreme Court case.
Asked if Boris Johnson should resign if he loses the ruling, the minister said: “I’m not prejudging the decision by the (court), I think it is absolutely vital that we wait to see what they say.”
“As I was leader of the Commons for two years, I can absolutely assure you we had the longest session in over 400 years, it’s absolutely vital that we prorogue, that we have a new Queen's speech, that we set out our new domestic agenda.”
Asked about another possible prorogation, she added: “That will be a matter for the prime minister, but I'm not speculating.
“It’s my expectation that the judges will find that prorogation is indeed a political matter and that in the longest parliamentary session in over 400 years, it’s perfectly reasonable to decide to prorogue and to set out a new domestic legislative programme.”
Asked if the allegations of a conflict of interest centring on the PM’s association with Jennifer Arcuri should be investigated, Leadsom said: “The prime minister has said he’s acted with propriety at all times and I’m happy with that.”
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If there needs to be an investigation then I'm sure that there will be, but I’m comfortable with the prime minister’s assurances.”
BREAKING: The National Crime Agency says it has found “no evidence” of any criminal activity committed by Brexit campaign group Leave.EU during the 2016 referendum.
'No evidence' Brexit campaign Leave.EU committed any crimes, National Crime Agency concludes
The NCA says it has found 'no evidence' of any criminal activity committed by Brexit campaign group Leave.EUFormer foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has called for a “rethink” on the international approach to Iran.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think the starting point has to be that Western policy towards Iran is failing and the US policy of maximum pressure which was designed to deter regional malign activity by Iran is clearly not working.”
“So we need to rethink, and the lesson, I think, is that when European and the US go their separate ways on Iran policy, in the end it doesn't work and we need to come together.”
It follows Boris Johnson’s called for a new “Trump deal” to replace the Iran nuclear agreement, potentially shattering EU unity on the issue.
The prime minister told US television: “I think there’s one guy who can do a better deal, and one guy who understands how to get a difficult partner like Iran over the line, and that is the president of the United States.
“So I hope that there will be a Trump deal, to be totally honest with you.”
The comments delighted Donald Trump, who lauded Johnson by saying: “That’s why he’s a winner. That’s why he’ a man who’s going to be successful in the UK.”
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Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer later said he was “disappointed” a Remain stance was rejected at the Labour conference. But he said will go to Brussels to negotiate a credible “Leave” deal option – to be put to the public at a second referendum – if Labour win an election.
The Remainer told a conference fringe event: “I don’t think there is a deal that’s going to be as good as the deal we’ve got.”
Not everyone has been willing to play nice over party policy.
“If you need a flow chart to explain your position you are going to lose a general election,” a senior Labour figure told the BBC, while one unnamed shadow cabinet member said the leadership was “bonkers and bunkered” over Brexit.
And one Labour MP shared Remainers’ despair with Politics Home editor Kevin Schofield.
Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson wants to “draw a line” under the party’s conference splits.
In a speech to party members at the Brighton conference today, he will urge Labour to stop infighting and instead focus on tackling the Tories.
The frontbencher is set to provocatively claim Boris Johnson is placing the country in the greatest danger it has faced since being confronted by Hitler’s Nazis in 1940.
Watson survived a call for his position to be abolished just hours before the party’s conference in Brighton began on Saturday.
He will say: “I didn’t choose the row going into this vital week for our party and our country, I didn't want it, I didn’t seek it and I regret it.
“It was damaging, divisive and unnecessary. Unfortunately we cannot pretend it didn’t happen. But let us now draw a line under it.”
Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey defended the process which resulted in Labour adopting a “wait and see” position on whether to support Brexit or remain in the EU at a second Brexit referendum.
Yesterday saw the conference reject a motion by pro-EU delegates for the party to start campaigning for Remain immediately. Despite some initial confusion about the show of hands, Wendy Nichols, chair of Labour’s NEC, was quickly persuaded by close Jeremy Corbyn ally Jennie Formby the Remainers had lost.
Long-Bailey said Nichols was a “very capable chair” and ”if she had any concerns about the vote then no doubt she would have raised it and would have called for the vote again”.
Asked how shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, who supports Remain, could go to Brussels for a Labour government and negotiate a Brexit deal, she told the BBC “Keir is a pragmatist” and “he might believe in remaining but he will still try to get the best possible deal”.
Labour activists in Brighton backed Corbyn’s position, which promises a referendum on a choice between a deal he will negotiate with Brussels or staying in the EU, with the party not making a decision on how it will campaign until a special conference is held.
Boris Johnson has refused to rule out suspending parliament for a second time if the verdict goes against him this morning.
He has also hinted he plans to cling to office even if the Supreme Court decides he misled the Queen when he shut down parliament in today’s historic ruling.
Boris Johnson hints he will refuse to resign if Supreme Court rules he misled the Queen
Asked if finding that he concealed motive to silence parliament over Brexit would make his position ‘untenable’, the prime minister replies, ‘No’
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