John Bercow tells MPs to return to Parliament tomorrow morning after Boris Johnson's prorogation was ruled unlawful

Jacob Jarvis24 September 2019
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

John Bercow has announced Parliament will resume tomorrow after Boris Johnson's prorogation was ruled unlawful.

He said MPs would return at 11.30am in light of the Supreme Court decision, which was backed unanimously by 11 judges.

Mr Bercow said there would be no Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday but there would be scope for urgent questions, ministerial statements and emergency debate applications.

The Speaker said:"In the light of that explicit judgment, I have instructed the House authorities to prepare not for the recall - the prorogation was unlawful and is void - to prepare for the resumption of the business of the House of Commons.

"Specifically I have instructed the House authorities to undertake such steps as are necessary to ensure that the House of Commons sits tomorrow, that it does so at 11.30am."

John Bercow addresses reporters outside the Houses of Parliament
AFP/Getty Images

The judges today said Parliament is free to return to sit at Westminster because the Prime Minister’s advice to the Queen was invalid.

“Parliament has not been prorogued,” said Lady Hale, president of the Supreme Court.

Boris Johnson's prorogation of Parliament was deemed unlawful
AFP/Getty Images

The ruling stated: “The decision to advise Her Majesty to prorogue Parliament was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions.”

It has prompted calls from the opposition for the PM to resign, with the opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn telling him to "consider his position".

Mr Corbyn addressed the Labour Party conference and said: "The Supreme Court has just announced its decision and it shows that the Prime Minister has acted wrongly in shutting down Parliament.

"It demonstrates a contempt for democracy and an abuse of power by him.

"I invited Boris Johnson in the historic words to consider his position."

Mr Corbyn has also brought forward his keynote speech at his party conference forward to this afternoon in light of the situation.

Brexit select committee chairman Hilary Benn called for an apology from the Prime Minister and also said Mr Johnson should think about resigning.

Speaking to the Standard about the Supreme Court ruling, Mr Benn said: “I think the Prime Minister at the very least owes Parliament an apology.”

Asked about calls for Boris Johnson to resign, he said: “Of course he should consider his position.

“For me, the most important thing is we must get back to work.

“There is so much to question the Prime Minister on.

“There’s lots of work for MPs to do.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in