MPs to return to Westminster after PM’s suspension ruled unlawful

MPs will return to Westminster on Wednesday after the highest court in the land ruled Boris Johnson’s suspension of Parliament was unlawful.

In a devastating ruling, the 11 Supreme Court justices agreed unanimously that the five-week prorogation in the run-up to Brexit was “void and of no effect”.

Commons Speaker Jon Bercow announced that he was putting in place arrangements for MPs to sit at 11.30am on Wednesday.

“The citizens of the UK are entitled to expect that Parliament does discharge its core functions, that it is in a position to scrutinise the executive, to hold ministers to account and to legislate if it chooses,” he said.

The ruling is a bitter humiliation for the Prime Minister, who was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly when the verdict was announced.

There was no immediate response from Downing Street as ministers and senior advisers considered their options.

However, opposition leaders said Mr Johnson’s position was untenable after such a comprehensive ruling and called on him to resign.

Jeremy Corbyn told the Labour Party conference in Brighton: “I invite Boris Johnson in the historic words to consider his position and become the shortest-serving Prime Minister there’s ever been.”

His call was echoed by the SNP leader at Westminster Ian Blackford, who declared: “We must be back in Parliament immediately.

“We want to get back to work. On the back of this, Boris Johnson must resign.”

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said: “The court have found what we all knew all along, Boris Johnson has again proven he is not fit to be Prime Minister.

“This shutdown was an unlawful act designed to stop Parliament doing its job and holding the Government to account.”