{"id":1674,"date":"2019-07-17T18:03:16","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T17:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/?p=1674"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:03:16","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T17:03:16","slug":"taking-the-government-to-court-again-over-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markargent.com\/blog\/taking-the-government-to-court-again-over-brexit\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking the government to court (again) over Brexit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Proroguing parliament for political reasons didn’t work out well for Charles I<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the normal course of events, there is a Queen\u2019s Speech at the start of each parlia­mentary session, and a prorogation at the end.<\/p>\n

But there is a more extreme precedent: an unpliant parliament led to Charles I doing this. It produced a period of \u201cpersonal rule\u201d<\/a> (1629\u20131640) — fuelling the resentments that led to civil war and his own execution.<\/p>\n

Both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have spoken of a willingness to leave the EU without a deal. Perhaps they are wolf-whistling the more extreme members of their own party whose votes they need to become leader. But both face opposition from Parliament. The strong suspicion is that some MPs who have (so far) voted against attempts to prevent the UK leaving the EU without a deal would vote the other way if it were close to happening.<\/p>\n

In this situation, the only way to stop Parliament voting down a \u201cNo Deal\u201d Brexit is to stop it voting at all. Jeremy Hunt has ruled this out. Boris Johnson has not. There are rumours that he is actively considering it<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Legal challenges to prorogation<\/h2>\n

In principle, the decision to prorogue parliament is taken by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Queen\u2019s actions can\u2019t be challenged in court, but former Prime Minister John Major has said that he\u2019d seek a judicial review of Johnson\u2019s actions<\/a> if he tried this. <\/p>\n

That was followed up by the news that Gina Miller has re-assembled the legal team that challenged the issuing of the original Article 50 notice, ready to act if Johnson tries this.<\/p>\n