Tag: UK Prime Minister
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Aris Georgopoulos: The Melting of Constitutional “Glaciers”: Miller 2 and the Prerogative Powers of Government
The purpose of this piece is to examine the legal and constitutional implications of the Miller 2 Judgment. I will focus on two aspects of the Judgment. First, the reasoning of the Court in setting and applying the standard for examining the five-week prorogation’s impact. Second, the Court’s approach concerning the examination of the reasons…
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Sam Fowles: Cherry/Miller: What’s Next?
Yesterday the Supreme Court handed down its unanimous judgement in Cherry and Others v The Advocate General and Miller v the Prime Minister. The court found that the Prime Minister’s decision to prorogue parliament was unlawful and, consequently, null and void. This article aims to identify some of the immediate constitutional and political impacts of…
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Alex Green: Our Constitution, Accountability and the Limits of the Power to Prorogue
Constitutions do many things. They distribute authority amongst public bodies, enshrine important points of substantive principle, and cement relationships between rulers and the ruled. However, in a more abstract and fundamental sense, constitutions also tell us something about ourselves as political collectives: they express the kind of polity we embody and the kind of people…
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Simon Lee: The Supremes’ Seventh: Dominant or Diminished?
Seven points about the Supreme Court judgment in Miller II/Cherry are in danger of being missed amidst the political noise. The tone of our reception of the Justices’ seventh paragraph, in particular, could determine whether there is any way of finding constitutional harmony in our democracy. First, Tuesday’s summary of the unanimous, unambiguous, unequivocal and powerful judgment…
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Danny Nicol: Supreme Court Against the People
The chorus that the United Kingdom Supreme Court’s decision on prorogation (R. (on the application of Miller) v The Prime Minister; Cherry and others v. Advocate General for Scotland [2019] UKSC 41) has “nothing to do with Brexit” cannot withstand serious scrutiny. The British electorate’s decision to leave the European Union is the pivot around…
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Michael Detmold: The Unconstitutional Brexit Letter
1. Responsible Government Parliament is an institution of responsible government. The essence of the common law principle of responsible government is the constitution of a regime of confidence: a government is required to carry the confidence of Parliament. This is the fundamental connexion of the executive (the Government) to the Parliament. The European Union (Withdrawal)…
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Steven Spadijer: Prorogation, Justiciability and the Reserve Powers
Prorogation is a quintessentially political power, sometimes deployed toward some of the most brazen of political ends. Charles II prorogued Parliament several times to prevent discussion of the Exclusion Bill. John Major (in)famously prorogued Parliament in order to prevent a report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on the cash-for-questions scandal from being tabled before…
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George Letsas: Non-Justiciability of Prorogation: A Matter of Law and Logic?
The case of Gina Miller v the Prime Minister and Others (‘Miller 2’) is presently being heard by the Supreme Court and the issue of justiciability is central. Some commentators have sought to defend the claimant’s submission that no exercise of a prerogative power is completely immune from judicial review. But the Supreme Court, like…
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Jeff King: Miller/Cherry and Remedies for Ultra Vires Delegated Legislation
The issue of remedies for any finding that the 2019 prorogation of the UK Parliament is unlawful is presently under discussion in pleadings in the joined appeals of Miller No.2 and Joanna Cherry MP (and others) in the Supreme Court. Essentially, the question concerns what must occur if the minister’s advice is found unlawful, and…
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Stephen Tierney: Prorogation and the Courts: A Question of Sovereignty
The request made by the Privy Council that the Queen prorogue Parliament was a clumsy and inappropriate attempt to shorten the time available for parliamentary scrutiny of the Brexit process. That much seems clear from papers submitted to the Court of Session in Cherry. It is therefore no surprise that the Inner House was receptive…