Thursday, 28 Nov 2024

No10 lashes out as Brexit court bid rejected despite Remainer Cherry claiming ‘victory’

On Friday morning, a Scottish judge threw out a move from opponents of Mr Johnson’s suspension bid, to an interim block, at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Earlier this week Boris Johnson announced that he would prorogue Parliament ahead of the Queen’s Speech on October 14, which could effectively limit the time MPs will get to debate Brexit. Speaking in Edinburgh following the judge’s decision, SNP MP Joanna Cherry claimed the move was a “victory”, with a further and full argument to be heard on Tuesday next week.

But, the Government responded by insisting the decision by the courts was the right one was there was “no good reason” to seek an interdict.

A UK Government spokeswoman said: “We are glad the court found against the interdict – there was no good reason to seek one, given the full hearing is due to take place next week, and the process of bringing the session to an end will not start until the week commencing 9 September.

“As we have set out, the Government needs to bring forward a strong domestic legislative agenda, and Members of Parliament are not prevented from scrutinising our withdrawal from the EU.”

Speaking outside the courts after the decision, SNP MP Ms Cherry said: “Just to confirm what happened in court right now. The court has declined to grant interim orders, that is like an emergency order – but he hasn’t made any ruling on our arguments that prorogation should be stopped.

“He wants to hear further and full argument on Tuesday morning here at the Court of Session before making a decision.

“I see that as a victory for us. He said there is no urgency at the weekend because of course, the order that came from Balmoral on Wednesday says Parliament cannot be prorogued before September 9, which is a week on Monday. He is going to hear the full arguments for that prorogation should proceed on Tuesday of next week.”

Ms Cherry also tweeted: “Court refuses interim orders at this stage but indicates willingness to hear full arguments early next week. So there is no decision on merits as yet on our attempt to halt #Prorogation. That will happen next week.”

She added: “Our QC has indicated that the PM @BorisJohnson should lodge with the Court an affidavit sworn on oath about the reasons for the #Prorogation. Full hearing at 10am next Tuesday in #Cherrycase.”

A cross-party group of around 75 MPs and peers filed a petition at the Court of Session in Edinburgh earlier this summer aiming to stop the Prime Minister being able to prorogue Parliament.

The group demanded an interim interdict until a final decision has been made on the case after Mr Johnson went ahead and announced that Parliament was being suspended.

On Friday, judge Lord Doherty dismissed the action ahead of a full hearing scheduled for next week.

He said: “I’m not satisfied that it has been demonstrated that there’s a need for an interim suspension or an interim interdict to be granted at this stage.”

He said a substantive hearing was already set to place on Friday September 6 “before the first possible date parliament could be prorogued”. But he brought that hearing forward to Tuesday September 3 “in the interest of justice”.

Aiden O’Neill QC, representing those for the action, had argued for the substantive hearing to be moved forward.

He said: “There is an urgency to this – any delay is prejudicial – not just to the prejudice of the petitioners, but to the country as a whole.”

Lord Doherty said: “I’m going to move the substantive hearing forward to Tuesday.

“Weighing consideration in the balance, it’s in the interest of justice that it proceeds sooner rather than later.”

Speaking on Wednesday after his decision to suspend Parliament, the Prime Minister refused to accept that he was limiting MPs time to debate Brexit as a result of the decision to suspend Parliament ahead of the Queen’s Speech on October 14.

Mr Johnson said: “There will be ample time on both sides of that crucial October 17 Summit in Parliament for MPs to debate the EU, Brexit and all the other issues.”

The move from the Government came after opposition parties met at the start of this week and said they would do everything in their power to try to block a no deal exit from the Brussels bloc.

Campaigners against a no deal Brexit accused the Prime Minister of “trashing the constitution” after the Government’s plans to prorogue Parliament in the lead-up to the October 31 Brexit deadline.

Source: Read Full Article

Related Posts