Opinion

Court ruling a major setback for Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson's tenure as prime minister has gone from bad to worse with three senior Scottish judges declaring his proroguing of Parliament and the advice he gave to Queen Elizabeth was unlawful, which is hugely significant from a constitutional and political perspective.

The ruling by the Court of Session - Scotland's highest civil court - overturned an earlier hearing which dismissed a challenge to the government's decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks.

There is no doubt yesterday's finding is a major setback for the prime minister. He has argued that the suspension was purely to facilitate the domestic agenda he intended to outline in the queen's speech.

However, the judges in Edinburgh declared that the true reason was to stymie parliamentary scrutiny of the executive.

Judge Lord Carloway said the judges were of the opinion that the advice given to the queen to suspend Parliament was unlawful and the the prorogation itself was unlawful.

For a court to rule that advice given by the government to the monarch is unlawful is absolutely damning for a British prime minister.

The unexpected ruling against the government sent shockwaves through the political world with opposition MPs demanding that Westminster be recalled immediately.

The government is resisting that call while it awaits the verdict of the UK Supreme Court which will consider an appeal on this matter.

If the supreme court upholds the finding that Mr Johnson acted unlawfully, his position would surely become untenable.

There will also be concern among MPs that the queen is being dragged into a constitutional quagmire, something that governments are scrupulously careful to avoid.

What yesterday's ruling does is assert the rule of law over an executive which is determined to ride roughshod over the usual conventions and procedures that are there to ensure the accountability and scrutiny that is essential in a democracy.

The Court of Session was clearly not convinced by Mr Johnson's stated reasons for suspending Parliament and the question for the DUP is why they would trust a prime minister who has effectively misled the queen.

Given Mr Johnson's track record, there are few people who would take everything he says at face value.

The prime minister will be hoping the supreme court decides that his decision is a political rather than a legal issue but the fact that three senior have declared his actions unlawful is very damaging.