Edinburgh MP Joanna Cherry demands Boris Johnson quits after Supreme Court ruling

SNP MP Joanna Cherry and lawyer Jolyon Maugham outside the Supreme Court.SNP MP Joanna Cherry and lawyer Jolyon Maugham outside the Supreme Court.
SNP MP Joanna Cherry and lawyer Jolyon Maugham outside the Supreme Court.
CITY MP Joanna Cherry today led calls for Boris Johnson to resign after she headed the successful legal case which resulted in the Supreme Court’s historic ruling against the prime minister.

All 11 justices in the UK's highest court agreed Mr Johnson's prorogation of parliament was unlawful and therefore "null and void".

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ms Cherry said: “This is an absolutely momentous decision. The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that parliament has not been prorogued, so there is nothing to stop us resuming immediately the important job of scrutinising this minority Tory government as we hurtle towards Brexit."

Speaker John Bercow has now announced parliament will resume business at 11.30am tomorrow.

Ms Cherry said she was "absolutely delighted" with the court's ruling.Ms Cherry said she was "absolutely delighted" with the court's ruling.
Ms Cherry said she was "absolutely delighted" with the court's ruling.

Ms Cherry, MP for Edinburgh South West and the SNP's justice spokeswoman at Westminster, said: “I am absolutely delighted the UK Supreme Court has agreed with Scotland’s supreme court that the prorogation was unlawful therefore it is null and void. This is a huge victory for the rule of law and for democracy and very much in keeping with the Scottish constitutional tradition that neither the government, nor indeed the monarch, are above the law.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"As regards Mr Boris Johnson, the highest court in the UK has unanimously found that his advice to prorogue this parliament, his advice given to Her Majesty the Queen, was unlawaful. His position is untenable and he should have the guts for once to do the decent thing and resign.”

Edinburgh South Labour MP Ian Murray, another of the 70 parliamentarians behind the court case, also called for the prime minister to quit.He said: “This is a historic result. The courts have upheld British democracy and delivered an astonishing rebuke to Boris Johnson for his disgraceful behaviour . “The Prime Minister lied and politicised the Queen. He now has no option but to resign.“It was a scandal that he suspended parliament at the height of the biggest political crisis this country has faced since the Second World War.“MPs must now be allowed to get back to work as early as tomorrow, and by working together we can solve this crisis by giving people a final say on Brexit - with the option to remain in the EU.”

However, Mr Johnson - who was in New York for the UN General Assembly when the result was announced - has vowed to press on with his plans for Brexit despite the humiliating ruling. "I strongly disagree with this decision of the Supreme Court," he told reporters."I have the utmost respect for our judiciary, I don't think this was the right decision, I think that the prorogation has been used for centuries without this kind of challenge. The most important thing is we get on and deliver Brexit on October 31, and clearly the claimants in this case are determined to frustrate that and to stop that."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Labour MP Ian Murray said the justices' decision was a "historic result".Labour MP Ian Murray said the justices' decision was a "historic result".
Labour MP Ian Murray said the justices' decision was a "historic result".

Announcing the Supreme Court decision, its president Lady Hale said the Government's advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament was unlawful because "it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification".