Speaker Bercow: Parliament Will ‘Resume’ Wednesday After Supreme Court Nullification of Suspension

The speaker of Britain’s House of Commons John Bercow has confirmed following the extraordinary ruling of the Supreme Court on Tuesday, that the House will resume sitting tomorrow, Wednesday.

The theoretically neutral yet controversial figure who has been the focus of accusations of working against Brexit — and hence the will of the British people — welcomed the decision Tuesday morning by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had acted unlawfully by suspending Parliament until mid-October.

Speaking outside Parliament on College Green, the Speaker told waiting for journalists that he had instructed the House authorities beneath him to prepare to resume the previous session on Wednesday morning.

Originally, parliamentarians had been waiting for a whole new session to begin on October 14th, but now the new session will not begin at all, as the court ruled the order to end the last one had not legally happened.

It is not clear whether the Prime Minister will even be present for the first day back for this resumed session — he is presently in New York for the United Nations, and Speaker Bercow made clear in his comments that for procedural reasons, there would not be a Prime Minister’s Questions session tomorrow.

Speaker Bercow said Tuesday:

Good afternoon. I welcome the judgement this morning of the Supreme Court. That judgement is unanimous, that judgement is unambiguous, and that judgement is unqualified. As you all now know, that judgement is that the prorogation of Parliament was unlawful. Unlawful because it prevented or frustrated Parliament in the discharge of its core duties and it did so at a crucial time for our country.

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

In the light of that explicit judgement, I have instructed the House authorities to prepare not for the recall — the prorogation was unlawful and is void — but 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 and that it does so at eleven-thirty AM.

I have contacted party leaders and where that has not been possible, senior representatives of political parties in order to inform them of my thinking and to prepare the way for the House of Commons to do its work. Owing to notification requirements with which I am sure you are all closely familiar, it will not be possible for there to be a Prime Minister’s Questions tomorrow, however for the avoidance of doubt there will be full scope for urgent questions for ministerial statements, and for applications for emergency debates under standing order number 24.