Thu. Mar 28th, 2024
Brexit Deal

Belfast, August 30: A legal challenge seeking to establish an interim council over United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s direction to suspend the British parliament will be next week heard in Northern Ireland’s court, a judge announced on Friday.

According to Reuters news reports, the prime minister’s decision to suspend the parliament for more than a month before the Brexit deadline has angered several opponents who have moved to the courts in London, Belfast, and Edinburgh for efforts to stop Jonhson.

At a hearing in Belfast’s High Court, Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan announced September 6 for hearing the presentation of legal challenges on the interim ruling, being sought by a human rights activist, Raymond McCord, seeking to reverse the suspension.

McCord has launched substantive cases which are due on Sept 16 against withdrawal from the EU without cracking a Withdrawal Agreement, citing fears of a chaotic Brexit that could trouble the Northern Ireland’s peace process.

McCord’s legal group has on Thursday argued a no-deal Brexit scenario is a breach to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that has brought peace and stability to the UK-run states, saying the parliament suspension was both a threat and unconstitutional.

“The prime minister wants to get his own way without concern for the people of Northern Ireland and the peace process,” said McCord.

On Friday, a Scottish court dismissed a appeal to set up an interim panel on the direction of Johnson to suspend the British parliament. However, the court agreed to hear the arguments next week.

Nonetheless, ex-British Prime Minister John Major also joined the legal challenge to try to bar the suspension of the British parliament.

 

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