Sending a clear warning to the Prime Minister after the Supreme Court overruled his decision, law expert Joelle Grogan said: “No one is above the law. At the end of the day, the question boils down to a fundamental principle: no one – not even the prime minister – is above the law.” Speaking to French daily Le Monde, the Middlesex University law professor added: “Brexit has forced us to clarify where power truly resides and raised deep constitutional questions.” The most important constitutional verdict in decades was a stinging rebuke of Mr Johnson’s actions, according to Mrs Grogan.
The court’s ruling was a “seismic and incredible decision,” she said. “It places parliament at the heart of the constitution. Judges ruled that no one was more powerful than parliament.”
The ruling said that Mr Johnson had not given any reason – “let alone a good reason” – for shutting down the legislature for five weeks, a decision which judges said had an “extreme” effect on the fundamentals of British democracy.
His decision to advise the Queen to approve the suspension was “unlawful, void and of no effect,” according to Supreme Court President Brenda Hale.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has since urged Mr Johnson to apologise to the Queen for unlawfully proroguing parliament, accusing him of abusing “the power he has in the royal prerogative”.
Mrs Grogan, for her part, denied claims the political crisis had weakened the monarch but said that Mr Johnson had put her in a “very uncomfortable position”.
Queen Elizabeth approved the prorogation last month after Mr Johnson told her that it was required to give him time to prepare a new legislative agenda.
However, the Tory leader’s critics allege he used a false pretext in a bid to prevent lawmakers from blocking his no-deal Brexit plans. Most lawmakers are opposed to a no-deal scenario, fearing it would trigger severe disruption on multiple fronts.
But parliament – despite reopening on Wednesday – remains in deadlock. Early elections look inevitable and Mr Johnson remains adamant that Britain will leave the EU on October 31, deal or no deal.
Mr Johnson said he would respect the ruling but “strongly disagreed with it”.
With just over a month to go before Brexit, it remains unclear when, if or on what terms the UK will leave the Brussels bloc, with options ranging from a chaotic no-deal to abandoning the procedure altogether.
Mr Johnson has repeatedly insisted he can strike a new deal with the EU’s 27 remaining members at a summit on October 17-18.
However, EU negotiators say he has made no new proposals capable of breaking the impasse over how to manage the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit.
The Johnson government is yet to provide “legal and operational” proposals for an amended accord, the bloc’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told reporters on Thursday.
“We are still ready to work on any new legal and operational proposal from the UK. We are still waiting for this,” he said.
Brexit talks have all but stalled over the Irish backstop, an insurance policy designed to preserve the seamless Irish border – the only future land frontier between the UK and the EU – by having Britain follow the bloc’s rules on trade, state aid and labour and environmental standards so that no checks are necessary.
Brexiteers are worried the backstop will trap Britain in the EU’s orbit for years to come; while the EU argues it is needed to protect the integrity of its single market and peace on the island of Ireland.
