Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1164933
12.09.19 6 FOREIGN NEWS COUNTDOWN TO BREXIT 49 DAYS TO GO PRIME Minister Boris Johnson's sus- pension of the British parliament was unlawful, a Scottish court ruled on Wednesday, prompting immediate calls for lawmakers to return to work as the government and parliament battle over the future of Brexit. Scotland's highest court of appeal ruled that Johnson's decision to pro- rogue, or suspend, parliament from Monday until Oct. 14 was unlawful — a blow for the government as it seeks to leave the European Union on Oct. 31 with or without a deal. With seven weeks until Britain is due to leave the EU, the government and parliament are locked in conflict over the future of Brexit, with possible out- comes ranging from leaving without a deal to another referendum that could cancel the divorce. "We are calling for parliament to be recalled immediately," said Scot- tish National Party lawmaker Joanna Cherry, who led the challenge, after the verdict by Scotland's Court of Ses- sion. "You cannot break the law with impunity, Boris Johnson." The government said it would ap- peal against the ruling to the Supreme Court, the United Kingdom's highest judicial body. Johnson announced on Aug. 28 that parliament would be prorogued, say- ing the government wanted the sus- pension so it could then launch a new legislative agenda. Opponents said the real reason was to shut down debate and challenges to his Brexit plans. The court was shown documents that showed Johnson was considering prorogation weeks before he formally asked Queen Elizabeth to suspend the legislature. Buckingham Palace declined to com- ment on the ruling. Misleading the monarch, who under Britain's unwrit- ten constitution must be apolitical, would be considered a grave affront. Johnson, who was a figurehead for the Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum, when 52 percent of vot- ers backed Brexit, has rejected oppo- sition complaints that he was denying parliament the right to debate Brexit in an undemocratic way. Dominic Grieve, one of 21 Brexit rebels thrown out of Johnson's Con- servative Party last week, said that if Johnson had misled the queen over the reasons for prorogation, he should resign. "If that were to be the case that this had happened, Boris Johnson would find himself in an untenable position in parliament," Grieve told BBC TV. Brexit up for grabs Johnson's bid to quit the bloc "do or die" on Oct. 31 has hit the buffers: parliament has ordered him to delay Brexit until 2020 unless he strikes a deal while a new Brexit Party is threat- ening to poach Conservative voters. After three years of tortuous Brexit crisis, British politics is in turmoil, with the prime minister blocked by parliament and an election or even a second referendum on the cards. In an excoriating judgment, the Scot- tish judges ruled the principal reason for parliament's suspension was to stymie lawmakers and allow Johnson to pursue a no-deal Brexit policy. "This was an egregious case of a clear failure to comply with general- ly accepted standards of behaviour of public authorities," concluded one judge, Philip Brodie, according to a summary of the court verdict. Judge James Drummond Young had determined that "the only inference that could be drawn was that the UK government and the Prime Minister wished to restrict Parliament", it add- ed. Labour splits The 2016 Brexit referendum showed a United Kingdom divided about much more than the EU, and has given rise to soul-searching about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and modern Brit- ishness. It has also triggered civil war inside Brexit in chaos after court rules PM's suspension of parliament was unlawful Nigel Farage