Bid to speed up Scottish legal case to halt suspension of parliament

The cross-party group of MPs taking the UK Government to court in Scotland to stop Boris Johnson forcing through a no deal by suspending parliament has submitted a motion for an emergency ruling to speed up the process.

In light of the UK Government’s plans to ask the Queen to suspend parliament in September, the group has said they are looking to seek an interim interdict in the Court of Session in Edinburgh to block the move.

The interdict could see the case heard as soon as Thursday 28 August.

The case has been brought by a group made up of 70 MPs from the SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Plaid Cymru, Greens and independents and is being backed by lawyer Jolyon Maugham QC of the Good Law Project.

One of the petitioners, Ian Murray, Labour MP for Edinburgh South, said: “Boris Johnson’s plan to suspend Parliament is an assault on our democracy.

“This is the people’s parliament, and the people deserve to have their representatives in Parliament during this vital period. This is the opposite of taking back control.

“Legal action to prevent the Prime Minister suspending Parliament has already been fast-tracked through the courts and the legal team will now consider the appropriate next steps, including seeking interim orders.

“A no-deal Brexit would be catastrophic for Scotland and the UK, and we will do everything we can to stop Boris Johnson inflicting such hardship on the people. The final say on Brexit should be handed back to the people.”

by Jenni Davidson

MPs to take UK Government to court over power to suspend parliament ahead of Brexit

Maugham also led the earlier court case brought by a group MPs, MSPs and MEPs, including Joanna Cherry and Green MSP Andy Wightman, that ruled that parliament could unilaterally reverse Article 50.

The new action was brought before the Court of Session, Scotland’s highest civil court and is for a ‘declarator’ that the prime minister cannot lawfully advise the Queen to suspend parliament.