Gina Miller to appeal as High Court rejects legal case against proroguing of Parliament
Gina Miller has said she “will not give up the fight for democracy” after the High Court rejected her legal challenge arguing that Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted unlawfully by proroguing Parliament for five weeks ahead of the Brexit deadline.
The case -which had the backing of former Prime Minister John Major – had challenged the legitimacy of the advice Johnson gave to the Queen before she signed off on his plans to prorogue Parliament, calling it “an unlawful abuse of power”.
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Judges rejected the case this morning, but granted permission for the case to be heard in the supreme court for an appeal on 17 September.
“There is no dispute that the prime minister is entitled to decide that it is appropriate now to end this session of parliament,” Miller’s lawyer, Lord Pannick, told the court.
“We say that what the prime minister is not entitled to do is to close parliament for five weeks at such a critical time without justification.”
Speaking outside the court, Miller said she was “very disappointed with the judgement” but that she and her legal team “will not give up the fight for democracy”.
“As our politics becomes more chaotic on a daily basis, the more vital it is that Parliament is sitting,” said the businesswoman and campaigner.
“To give up now would be a dereliction of our responsibility to help protect our elected representatives – our eyes and ears that sit in Westminster – who protect our rights and give each of us a voice,” she added.
Miller previously launched a successful legal challenge against the government over Brexit, resulting in Parliament being given a vote over whether to trigger Article 50.
Earlier this week a Scottish court also ruled that Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament is legal.
With the High Court’s ruling today that means Johnson is free to suspend parliament as planned for almost five weeks until 14 October.
MPs say this will give them less time to debate the Prime Minister’s Brexit strategy before the UK exits the EU on 31 October.
The SNP are appealing that decision, but judge Raymond Doherty denied the 75 MPs’ request to block the Tory leader’s plans.
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“In my view, the advice given in relation to the prorogation decision is a matter involving high policy and political judgment,” he said.
“This is political territory and decision-making which cannot be measured against legal standards and only by political judgements.”