Legal action aimed at stopping Boris Johnson’s ability to suspend Parliament is to be heard at Scotland’s highest civil court on Tuesday.
At the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Friday, opponents of the move made by the Prime Minister were denied an interim interdict to halt the prorogation of Parliament by judge Lord Doherty.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson urged to submit sworn statement amid no-deal Brexit court battle
A decision was made to bring a full hearing forward to Tuesday from this Friday after the judge ruled it would be “in the interest of justice that it proceeds sooner rather than later”.
If an interim interdict had been granted it would have immediately lifted the royal order to suspend Parliament.
A full interdict could still be granted by the judge.
The judge will not decide on the merits of the case until he has heard legal arguments from both sides, with a final ruling potentially being delivered on Wednesday.
A request was also made by the petitioners on Friday that the Prime Minister issue a legally binding statement to the court – known as an affidavit – over his reasons for the suspension.
This is not automatically granted but if it was the Prime Minister could potentially be called to face cross-examination.
READ MORE: UK Government will defend its decision to prorogue Parliament 'robustly' in Edinburgh court
Speaking outside the court on Friday, SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC – one of the campaigners behind the legal action – urged the Prime Minister to “tell the truth, have the courage of your convictions – swear on oath your reason for prorogation”.
Labour MP Ian Murray, who is also backing the action, said Tuesday’s hearing would make this week “the most important week in modern British history”.
Tuesday will also see a victims’ campaigner in Belfast resume his own legal bid to block the suspension of Parliament.
Raymond McCord (Brian Lawless/PA)
Raymond McCord’s lawyers will urge a High Court judge to convene a hearing later in the week on an application to injunct prorogation.
The campaigner, whose son Raymond Jnr was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in 1997, is already taking judicial review proceedings against the Government to prevent a no-deal Brexit, claiming a disorderly exit would damage the peace process.
The hearing on that wider issue is listed to take place on September 16.
Mr McCord hopes to secure an earlier discrete hearing, potentially on Friday, on the injunction bid ahead of the full hearing on the no-deal Brexit challenge.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel