Parliament suspension ruled unlawful amid calls for Boris Johnson to resign

The suspension of Parliament has been ruled unlawful by Scotland’s highest civil court.

MPs were sent home in the early hours of Tuesday morning after Boris Johnson decided to prorogue Parliament until 14 October, the longest such shutdown since the Second World War. The prime minister has been accused of trying to use prorogation to ensure MPs cannot prevent him from pushing through a no-deal Brexit on 31 October.

Today, a cross-party group of more than 70 MPs and peers led by the Scottish National Party’s Joanna Cherry successfully challenged the move at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

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Henry Hill of ConservativeHome describes the ruling as “another step towards a looming constitutional showdown between the political and judicial elements of our Constitution”.

Here is what the verdict means and what might happen next:

What did the Court of Session find?

The three-judge panel found that Johnson was motivated by the “improper purpose of stymieing Parliament” and had effectively misled the Queen in advising her to agree to the prorogation.

The judges added: “The Court will accordingly make an order declaring that the prime minister’s advice to HM the Queen and the prorogation which followed thereon was unlawful and is thus null and of no effect.”

What does this mean for Brexit?

The stage “is now set for a showdown in the Supreme Court next Tuesday”, after the High Court in London also rejected a similar case, reports The Times. Last week, Judge Lord Doherty said Johnson had not broken the law and that it was for MPs and the public to judge his actions, not the courts.

Clearly, the Court of Session disagreed.

The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg tweets that while “Scots law is different to English law”, the judgment today puts “massive pressure” on the UK Supreme Court to choose which side to take next week.

A spokesperson for Johnson today confirmed to The Telegraph that the prorogation will continue.

But many MPs are calling for Parliament to be reconvened immediately. Scottish MP Cherry said outside the court: “We feel utterly vindicated and I would be confident that the UK Supreme Court will uphold this decision.”

She was backed by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who said the ruling was of “enormous constitutional significance”.

Meanwhile, Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, tweeted a photograph of himself sitting in an empty House of Commons.

Will Johnson be forced to resign?

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve, who was sacked from the Tory party last week, says that Johnson’s position would be “untenable” if he is found to have misled the Queen over prorogation. “I hope it would be untenable not just because of the opposition, because every member of the Conservative that believes in our constitution would simply say, ‘it’s over’,” Grieve said.

Labour peer Andrew Adonis echoed that opinion, saying: “If it is clear that the actual advice given to the Queen was incorrect and a fabrication then I see no alternative now but for Boris Johnson to resign.”

What has the Government said?

Johnson previously claimed that the move to prorogue parliament was normal practice, and dismissed claims that it was undemocratic as “nonsense”.

A Downing Street spokesperson today said that the Government was “disappointed” by the Scottish ruling, adding: “The UK government needs to bring forward a strong domestic legislative agenda. Proroguing Parliament is the legal and necessary way of delivering this.”

An insider at No. 10 later suggested that the Scottish judges might not be impartial - a claim that prompted an immediate backlash. The Downing Street source told The Sun: “We note that last week the High Court in London did not rule that prorogation was unlawful. The legal activists choose the Scottish courts for a reason.”

SNP MP Tommy Sheppard was among those to hit back at the comments, saying it was “dictatorial and dangerous for the prime minister or his office to be questioning the integrity and independence of the Scottish courts just because he doesn’t like what they’ve ruled”.