Boris Johnson could suspend parliament again if he loses Supreme Court ruling, Tory minister indicates
Dominic Raab says government will respect judges’ ruling, but says he will not ‘take levers off the table’ for future action
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has twice refused to rule out suspending parliament for a second time if the Supreme Court rules against the government next week.
Mr Raab was speaking ahead of the Supreme Court ruling, due as soon as Monday, on the government’s appeal against the finding of Scotland’s most senior judges that the five-week prorogation to 14 October was unlawful because it was undertaken with the purpose of stymying parliamentary scrutiny of Boris Johnson‘s government.
The foreign secretary told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show that the government would respect the decision of the panel of 11 senior judges who heard legal arguments over three days last week.
But he dodged the question of whether Mr Johnson might order a second prorogation to keep MPs out of Westminster in the run-up to the Brexit deadline of 31 October.
Asked if Mr Johnson could ask the Queen for a second suspension, he said: “Let’s wait and see what the first judgment decides and then we will understand the lie of the land.”
When asked if he was indicating that another prorogation was possible, Mr Raab replied: “I’m very keen not to get ahead of ourselves on this and very keen not to take levers off the table that weaken the position of the United Kingdom in Brussels.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would “obviously oppose” a second prorogation.
“I will be in discussions with the other opposition parties on what action we can take,” said Mr Corbyn.
“If the Supreme Court ... decides that parliament should be recalled – in other words, the advice he gave was wrong – then we would seek to take immediate action in parliament to prevent him closing down parliament all the way through to 31 October. So I would work with the other opposition parties, as we have up to now.”
Asked if the speaker, John Bercow, should resume parliamentary sittings immediately if the Supreme Court rules against the government, Mr Corbyn said: “The Commons should be recalled if that is what the Supreme Court decides. I hope we’re in that position because I want this parliament, our parliament, to be able to question the government.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments