BORIS Johnson’s attempt to shut down Parliament in order to push through his extreme Brexit plans and avoid parliamentary scrutiny and due process has been ruled to be unlawful by the UK’s Supreme Court.

 I am delighted that the court followed the lead of Scotland’s Supreme Court in Edinburgh in its ruling. Our case has been vindicated and we can now get back to Westminster so that we can hold this incompetent and chaotic Tory Government to account.

The consequences of this unanimous ruling cannot be underplayed, and Boris Johnson must wake up to the reality of the court decision – he cannot ride roughshod over democracy and rip up the rulebook with impunity. We will bring him back down to reality.

As MPs return to Westminster today, it is pivotal that cross-party MPs get back round the table and work together in scrutinising the Government and ensuring that Scotland and the UK are not inflicted with the devastating impact of an extreme Tory Brexit – which we know will harm our public services, economy and people’s livelihoods.

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We are just over 30 days from the October Brexit deadline and time is fast running out. We have had the parliamentary time available for scrutiny cut and we must not squander the remaining period.

 As MPs prepare to pick up from where they left off, I will continue to work with opposition figures from across Westminster in making sure that the threat of a no-deal exit is removed once and for all. 

Once that nightmare prospect is off the table, we will explore every channel open to us in removing the Tories from office.

 It’s clear that there is no such thing as a good Brexit. Economic analysis – including the UK Government’s very own damning Yellowhammer documents – have revealed over and over again the devastating impact a no-deal Brexit will have on the economy, small and large businesses and public services. 

I, along with my SNP colleagues, will continue to work to protect Scotland’s interests and to prevent Boris Johnson from imposing an extreme Tory Brexit upon Scotland.

 We are in uncharted constitutional territory and the judgment of the UK Supreme Court, and the implications of it, are of huge significance. 
It is extraordinary that we have reached the stage where the highest court in Scotland and the UK have both found that the Prime Minister has acted unlawfully. If Boris Johnson had an ounce of respect left for the office he occupies he would resign immediately.

The people of Scotland are looking on in horror at the chaos consuming Westminster. 

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It’s becoming clearer with each day that passes that Scotland deserves the choice of a better future than the one being imposed upon it by a bleak and broken Westminster system.

The SNP will continue to work to stop Brexit and protect Scotland’s right to choose our own future as an independent country. Boris Johnson has acted recklessly and like a tin-pot dictator throughout this entire shambolic process, and his short period in office has been dominated by defeats, resignations and court rulings against him.

In any other time, and in any other democracy, this Prime Minister would be out of office.

This is a government that has lost the argument, lost the court case, and lost any authority. It is on its very last legs and we must use the coming period to remove the threat of an extreme Tory Brexit.

Joanna Cherry QC is SNP MP for Edinburgh South West.