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House of Commons Speaker announces UK Parliament to resume on Wednesday

Earlier on Tuesday, the UK Supreme Court returned a unanimous verdict that the decision made by UK PM Boris Johnson to prorogue parliament by five weeks instead of traditional five days was unlawful
Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow  AP Photo/Matt Dunham
Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow
© AP Photo/Matt Dunham

LONDON, September 24. /TASS/. Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow announced Tuesday that the UK Parliament will resume on Wednesday after a prorogation ruled unlawful by the British Supreme Court. Bercow told Sky News that he had taken measures necessary to have a meeting of the chamber convened on Wednesday at 11:30 local time. The speaker underlined that the parliament is not to be recalled but to be resumed since its prorogation was ruled to be unlawful and declared void. 

"I have instructed the house authorities to prepare not for the recall — the prorogation was unlawful and is void — to prepare for the resumption of the business of the House of Commons. Specifically, I’ve 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 11:30 am. I have contacted party leaders and, where that has not been possible, senior representatives of the political parties in order to inform them of my thinking and to prepare the way for the House of Commons to do its work," Bercow said.

"That judgement [of the Supreme Court] 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," Bercow welcomed the decision. "The citizens of the UK are entitled to expect Parliament to 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."

Earlier on Tuesday, eleven judges of the UK Supreme Court returned a unanimous verdict that the decision made by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to prorogue parliament by five weeks instead of traditional five days was unlawful. The court in fact recognized that the opposition parties were right that they instantly suspected the prime minister of trying to block them from having their say in the Brexit negotiations.