British Parliament to resume after UK Supreme Court rules suspension “unlawful”

The UK Supreme Court ruled that Boris Johnson's suspension of Parliament was unlawful. Photo courtesy: Wikimedia
The UK Supreme Court ruled that Boris Johnson's suspension of Parliament was unlawful. Photo courtesy: Wikimedia

United Kingdom (UK) House of Commons speaker John Bercow on Tuesday said that Britain's parliament will resume proceedings on Wednesday after the Supreme Court ruled Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to suspend it unlawful.

"I have instructed the House authorities to undertake such steps as are necessary to ensure that the House of Commons sits tomorrow and that it does so at 11:30am (1030 GMT)," Bercow told reporters. 

https://twitter.com/LordSpeaker/status/1176469050521718785

Britain's highest court had ruled on Tuesday that Johnson's decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks in the run-up to the country's Brexit deadline was illegal. The unanimous Supreme Court ruling by an 11-judge bench declared the order to suspend Parliament "void and of no effect."

Supreme Court President Brenda Hale had said the suspension "was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification." 

UK Supreme Court President Brenda Hale reading the verdict. Photo courtesy: Twitter
UK Supreme Court President Brenda Hale reading the verdict. Photo courtesy: Twitter

Johnson, who is currently in New York for the UN General Assembly, has refused to say whether he will resign if he is found to have broken the law, or will seek to shut down Parliament again.