Brexit chaos continues as Boris Johnson’s shutdown of Parliament ruled unlawful – latest updates

by the SNP
Posted on
5 years ago
8 min read

With Westminster in chaos, it can be tricky to keep up with the latest news.

We’ve put together a timeline of recent events to keep you in the loop.

24/09/1911:50am

Boris Johnson must resign

Following the unanimous Supreme Court ruling that the shutdown of Parliament was unlawful and unconstitutional, it’s clear that Boris Johnson is completely unfit for office.

This is a man who has lied to MPs, misled the Queen, and used dirty tricks in an attempt to force an extreme Brexit through the backdoor – with no mandate from the public and no support in Parliament. He must now resign.

24/09/1910:57am

The UK Supreme Court rules Boris Johnson’s shutdown of Parliament has been unlawful – Parliament must now resume immediately

The Supreme Court judges unanimously ruled that Boris Johnson’s decision to shut down Parliament in order to force through a no-deal Brexit was “unlawful and unconstitutional”.

Boris Johnson is unfit for office and must resign – his behaviour has been disgraceful and his contempt for democracy has been laid bare by the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Joanna Cherry QC MP, who has taken the lead in bringing the court case forward, said: “Parliament must resume without delay, so we can hold the Tory government to account on its Brexit plans, which threaten to plunge the UK into recession, destroy 100,000 Scottish jobs, and inflict lasting harm on living standards, public services and the economy.”

11/09/194:15pm

Boris Johnson is in hiding, but he can’t escape scrutiny from Ian Blackford

Boris Johnson has acted unlawfully by shutting down Parliament, depriving MPs of a chance to scrutinise his reckless no-deal Brexit plan at PMQs and the Commons liaison committee.

While the Prime Minister is in hiding, Ian Blackford put a question to him in his weekly live stream.

11/09/193:15pm

Kirsty Blackman leads cross-party gathering of MPs calling for Parliament to be recalled

After the Scottish courts found Boris Johnson’s shutdown of Parliament unlawful, Parliament must now be recalled immediately, so that MPs can scrutinise the Prime Minister with just 50 days until the Brexit cliff edge.

Kirsty Blackman and other SNP MPs, as well as figures from across the opposition parties, have gathered in front of Parliament to apply pressure to this shambolic Tory government.

11/09/1912:50pm

Downing Street attacks the Scottish judiciary by suggesting courts are politically biased

Number 10 sources reacted to the news by seeking to question the integrity and independence of Scottish judges, suggesting they are politically biased.

Boris Johnson should immediately apologise for attacks by his office on the Scottish judiciary, which are straight out of the tinpot dictators’ playbook and clearly reveal the utter contempt the Tories have for Scotland and the democratic process.

11/09/1912:05pm

Boris Johnson’s shutdown of Parliament ruled unlawful by Scotland’s highest court

The legal case against the prorogation of the UK Parliament has resulted in the Court of Session ruling that Boris Johnson’s action was unlawful.

The UK government has acted in a fundamentally anti-democratic way to prevent Parliament from scrutinising the Brexit process and holding this shambolic Tory Prime Minister to account.

Evidence uncovered during the case, including private memos from Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings, highlighted this was a plot by Boris Johnson to prevent MPs from stopping his reckless no-deal Brexit plans for which he has no mandate.

10/09/191:00am

Boris Johnson undemocratically shuts down Parliament, while Scottish Tories stand by him and act against Scotland’s interests – again

Having lost every single vote since he became Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has been urged by SNP MPs to accept the will of Parliament and take a catastrophic no-deal Brexit off the table, and warned that he is not “above the law”.

With Tories in meltdown, it is an absolute disgrace that Boris Johnson chose to attack democracy by shutting down Parliament in the middle of a constitutional crisis.

This is a blatant attempt to silence MPs, dodge scrutiny, and force through an extreme Brexit – and yet, the Scottish Tories have again failed to stand up for Scotland’s interests, by joining forces with Boris Johnson to sell them out.

09/09/199:30pm

Theresa May’s resignation honours reveals list of “rotten Tory peerages handed like out sweeties”

In the latest sign of Westminster being broken and not fit for purpose, Theresa May has appointed dozens of new peers into the House of Lords – including most of her former special advisers.

Former Tory director of communications, as well as Theresa May’s joint chiefs of staff – people who played a major part in plunging us into the Brexit chaos – have been awarded with knighthoods and further honours.

The fact that Tories are able to turn their cronies and donors into legislators for life – with no democratic mandate or accountability – clearly underlines that Westminster is not working for Scotland and highlights the case for abolishing the House of Lords.

09/09/197:45pm

Fifth defeat for Boris Johnson as Parliament forces him to publish secret no-deal plans

Boris Johnson has been ordered to hand over the full dossier of secret documents about the government’s Brexit preparations – coded Operation Yellowhammer – outlining the consequences of the reckless plan to plough ahead with a no-deal.

Johnson will also be forced to hand over messages sent by senior aides plotting the prorogation of Parliament, just before publicly denying that was not the government’s plan.

Having faced 5 defeats in just one week of Parliament sitting, Boris Johnson has lost more votes than Tony Blair in ten years and Margaret Thatcher in eleven. This is a shambolic Tory government falling apart before our eyes.

09/09/196:10pm

Bill to stop a no-deal Brexit officially becomes law – amid reports of Boris Johnson plotting to break the law

Reports that the Tory government would seek to subvert the law and force through an extreme Brexit are another appalling sign of Boris Johnson’s assault on the fundaments of democracy.

While the Bill to stop a no-deal Brexit became officially enshrined into UK law, it is beyond belief that the Prime Minister is considering breaking it – and shutting down Parliament in the middle of a constitutional crisis.

07/09/1912:15pm

Boris Johnson’s government on the verge of collapse as more Tory figures resign

Amber Rudd became the latest leading Tory figure to resign over the Prime Minister’s reckless approach to Brexit, accusing Johnson of “an act of political vandalism”.

Boris Johnson’s government has no majority, no authority, and no mandate.

Rudd’s resignation has laid bare that the Tory leader’s real plan is to force through a catastrophic no-deal Brexit – with the EU negotiations, as Dominic Cummings described them, merely “a sham” to run down the clock.

04/09/197:00pm

MPs take back control of the Brexit process and vote against no-deal

SNP MPs voted to pass a historic Bill to stop a no-deal Brexit, and worked cross-party to ramp up the pressure on Boris Johnson and take steps in removing the Tories from office.

The UK government’s slide towards the extremes has been highlighted by Boris Johnson’s decision to remove the Conservative whip from 21 MPs who voted for the Bill – including the former Chancellor and senior ministers.

With Johnson’s authority crumbling, the UK government’s majority went from 1 to -43 in just one day.

03/09/1912:00pm

SNP take the lead in cross-party efforts to stop a no-deal Brexit

The SNP has co-sponsored the cross-party Bill designed to stop a catastrophic no-deal Brexit, which would slash over 100,000 Scottish jobs, wreck the economy, and damage our public services.

While SNP MPs had consistently voted to stop Brexit and block a no-deal, Scottish Tory MPs had explicitly acted against Scotland’s interests and backed no-deal on every occasion – including 19 times this year.

28/08/195:20pm

Ruth Davidson resigns

Citing Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy as part of her reason, Ruth Davidson has resigned as leader of the Scottish Tories.

This really begs the question – if even Ruth Davidson can’t put up with the hard-right shift of the Tories, why should Scotland?

28/08/191:15pm

Boris Johnson announces undemocratic plan to shut down UK Parliament

In a court case over the decision to shut down Parliament, a secret Downing Street document was revealed showing that Boris Johnson agreed to shutting down Parliament on 16 August – before publicly denying such a move would happen.

During the Tory leadership contest, Boris Johnson told Tory MPs that he is “not attracted to arcane procedures such as the prorogation of Parliament”.

Rather than respecting democracy, this is a Prime Minister culpable of downright deception and a litany of lies.

If that weren’t enough, numerous members of Johnson’s Cabinet strongly condemned the idea of shutting down Parliament, before quietly falling into line and facilitating this attack on democracy.

25/07/194:00pm

Vote Leave takeover of Downing Street as new Cabinet is the most right-wing in decades

Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings, his chief advisor who has led the Vote Leave campaign, have appointed a Cabinet dominated by rabid right-wingers and hardline Brexiteers – a clear case of Westminster becoming more extreme and out of touch by the day.

Figures in the new Cabinet have advocated slashing Scotland’s budget, rolling back devolution, cutting taxes for the rich, privatising the NHS, and even re-introducing the death penalty.

24/07/191:30pm

Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister

Elected by less than 0.2% of the UK’s population who are Tory party members, Boris Johnson – the man blighted by a litany of racist, sexist and homophobic comments – took over as Prime Minister.