The high court of Great Britain unanimously ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks amid the ongoing debate over Brexit was illegal.
The unanimous and strongly pronounced ruling of the Supreme Court declared its order to suspend Parliament “empty and without effect.” The court ruled that Johnson acted to limit legislators’ debate about Britain’s imminent departure from the European Union, in violation of Parliament’s constitutional role.
Johnson did not rule out the attempt to suspend Parliament again.
“As the law is currently, the United Kingdom leaves the EU on October 31, whatever happens, but the most exciting thing for us now is to get a good deal. And that is what we are working on,” Johnson said. “And to be honest, this kind of thing is not much easier in Parliament or in court.”
The president of the House of Representatives, John Bercow, welcomed the historic verdict and called parliamentarians to parliament, which will meet on Wednesday morning.
The court ruling now puts additional pressure on Johnson to approve an agreement on Brexit.