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Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament is unlawful, Scottish court rules

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament is unlawful, a court in Scotland has ruled.

A document on the decision made on Tuesday said it was due to the suspension having “the purpose of stymying parliament”.

It comes after the Court of Session dismissed the case last week – but three judges with the supreme civil court in Scotland have since disagreed with the original conclusion.

They maintained that Johnson’s advice given to the Queen on the reason for suspending parliament for five weeks “was unlawful”, and said they would issue an order to declare it “thus null and of no effect”.

A spokesperson for the government said it was “disappointed” but planned to appeal the decision with the UK Supreme Court next week.

It added: “The UK Government needs to bring forward a strong domestic legislative agenda. Proroguing parliament is the legal and necessary way of delivering this.”

Johnson has been accused of using the suspension scheduled until mid-October as a means to give opposition MPs less time to stop him from pushing through Brexit on the 31st – deal or no deal.

But the prime minister insists he is just following procedure by shutting down parliament in the lead up to the Queen’s speech, which opens a new parliamentary session.