Boris challenged as MP back

The judgement has dented Johnson’s authority, prompting calls for his resignation and casting further doubt on his promise to pull Britain out of the EU on 31 October, come what may.

PROTESTERS calling for parliament to be recalled hold up placards outside the Supreme court in central London on Sunday before Britain’s Supreme Court ruled “unlawful” a decision by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to suspend parliament in the run-up to Brexit, saying it was “void and of no effect.” AFP

LONDON, UK (AFP) — British MP return to parliament on Wednesday following a momentous Supreme Court ruling that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament was unlawful.

The judgement has dented Johnson’s authority, prompting calls for his resignation and casting further doubt on his promise to pull Britain out of the EU on 31 October, come what may.

The Conservative leader was due to arrive back from New York in the early hours, heading straight into a political maelstrom triggered by Tuesday’s damning court ruling that his decision to suspend parliament for five weeks was unlawful.

The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, immediately announced that MP would reconvene at 11.30 a.m. (1030 GMT) on Wednesday, while the upper House of Lords said it would return later the same day.

Bercow said there would be no Prime Minister’s Questions — a weekly session held on Wednesdays — but there would be “full scope for urgent questions, for ministerial statements, and for applications for emergency debates.”

The ruling throws his Brexit plans into disarray — coming after a series of defeats in parliament that have curbed his plans for Brexit even if there is no divorce deal with Brussels.

Johnson told British media he “strongly disagreed” with the decision but said he would respect it.

The prime minister is likely to also renew his call for an early election to end the stand-off with parliament, having said in New York on Tuesday that it was “the obvious thing to do.”

Despite the series of hammer blows in the House of Commons and the courts and losing his parliamentary majority, Johnson is still riding high in the polls and is keen for an election to try and win enough seats to allow him to carry out his plans to leave the EU.

But he requires the consent of opposition parties to hold a snap election and they are so far reluctant, preferring to use their working majority to keep a tight leash on Johnson as the Brexit deadline looms.

Labor has said it will agree to a vote once a no-deal Brexit has been ruled out, with a spokesman at its party conference saying on Tuesday that they will be taking “action tomorrow” regarding an election.

The 11 Supreme Court judges ruled on Tuesday that the parliamentary suspension, which came into effect this month, was “void and of no effect” because the prorogation was unlawful.