Out of order as Boris Johnson found guilty of breaking law over Parliament’s suspension – The Yorkshire Post says
Yet the fact of the matter is that Britain’s highest court, under the stewardship of Leeds-born Baroness Hale, ruled unanimously that the Government did break the law.
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Hide AdNot only was the verdict damning on the Prime Minister who is fighting to save his reputation, and that of his office, but it also sets a landmark precedent which will guide future prorogations.
The coming hours will determine whether Mr Johnson can survive this constitutional crisis – never before has a Prime Minister been accused, and then found guilty, of effectively dragging the Queen into politics by the way in which it asked Her Majesty to prorogue Parliament for a prolonged period.
Instead of Parliament being suspended for a matter of days, the repeated claim of Ministers who offered the court no significant justification for their actions, the Supreme Court ruled that MPs and peers would not be able to fulfil their duties for five weeks in the run up to the new Brexit deadline of October 31.
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Hide AdAnd, frankly, the Government only has itself to blame for the contempt that it has shown for this country’s democratic traditions – The Yorkshire Post published an editorial on August 20 headlined ‘Why Parliament and Brexit must take precedence over this year’s party conferences’.
Our warning then was not to allow the party conferences, now underway, to stand in the way of key decisions over Brexit. Little did we – or anyone else – believe that Mr Johnson would exploit this timetable to extend Parliament’s prorogation for an unprecedented period to thwart those who are opposing his attempts to force through a no-deal Brexit if he cannot reach an exit agreement with the EU.
In the meantime, the Government must comply with robust defence of the fundamental principles of British democracy by a court led by a plain-spoken Yorkshirewoman. Baroness Hale’s arguments, on behalf of a unanimous court, are unanswerable.