British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face MPs on Wednesday after they reconvened following the Supreme Court’s damning judgement that his suspension of parliament in the run-up to Brexit was unlawful.
Johnson flew back from the UN General Assembly in New York into a major crisis that has sparked calls for his resignation just weeks before Britain is due to leave the European Union on October 31. Despite the stunning rebuke from the highest court in the land, the Conservative leader continues to insist he will take Britain out of the bloc next month even if he cannot agree on exit terms with Brussels.
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However, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox told MPs the government would abide by a law passed this month demanding Brexit be delayed to avoid a “no-deal” exit.
Cox did not explain how the government could do so and still keep its promise.
Cox was summoned to the House of Commons to answer questions about Tuesday’s court judgment until Johnson — who only landed mid-morning — can set out his next steps later in the day.
The government’s top lawyer said ministers respected the historic ruling that Johnson’s suspension or prorogation of parliament for five weeks until October 14 was unlawful.
“We lost, we got it wrong,” Cox said.
He suggested that in response, the government would try for a third time to call a snap election to try to resolve the political impasse over Brexit.
The leader of the main opposition Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, has called on Johnson to resign following the court ruling.
However, he told the BBC he would not call a confidence vote in parliament until the possibility of a no-deal Brexit has been eliminated.
“Our first priority is to prevent a no-deal exit from the European Union on October 31,” he said.
Johnson, who only took office in July, insists he suspended parliament to allow his new government to launch a fresh legislative programme.
But critics accuse him of trying to silence MPs, the majority of whom object to his threat to leave the EU without a deal.
In rowdy scenes in the packed House of Commons, Cox accused MPs of trying to block Brexit at every turn.
He charged Labour with being “cowardly” for having twice rejected Johnson’s call for fresh elections to resolve the political impasse.
“This parliament is a dead parliament,” he said.
He added: “This parliament should have the courage to face the electorate, but it won’t.
“It won’t because so many of them are really all about preventing us from leaving the European Union.”
After the court judgement, Johnson called again for an election, hoping to take advantage of opinion polls showing voters like his tough Brexit stance.
Cox said there would be an “election motion that will be coming before the House shortly”.
However, a snap election requires the support of two-thirds of MPs — and opposition parties prefer to keep Johnson on a tight leash.
Veteran Labour MP Barry Sheerman accused the government of having “no shame”.
“This government cynically manipulated the prorogation to shut down this house so that it couldn’t work as a democratic assembly.”
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson’s attorney-general said the British parliament was “dead” in a defiant outburst after lawmakers were recalled following a Supreme Court ruling that the prime minister’s suspension of the assembly was unlawful.
The comments by Geoffrey Cox, the first cabinet member to address the chamber since parliament resumed on Wednesday, prompted outrage among Johnson’s opponents seeking to stop him taking Britain out of the EU without a deal.
Britain faces an Oct. 31 departure deadline, but after three years of political crisis, it remains unclear when, if or on what terms it will leave the bloc it joined in 1973.
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