, 6 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
While Parliament is prorogued, neither House can meet, debate and pass legislation. Neither House can debate Government policy. Nor may members of either House ask written or oral questions of Ministers. They may not meet and take evidence in committees.
The Courts held in 1611, that an attempt to alter the law of the land by the use of the Crown’s prerogative powers was unlawful. “The King hath no prerogative, but that which the law of the land allows him”, ie the limits of prerogative powers were determined by courts.
Laws enacted by the crown in Parliament are the supreme form of law, with which everyone, including the Government, must comply. Time and again, since the 17th century, the courts have protected Parliamentary sovereignty from threats posed to it by the use of prerogative powers
“The constitutional history of this country is the history of the prerogative powers of the Crown being made subject to the overriding powers of the democratically elected legislature as the sovereign body”.
The decision to prorogue Parliament is unlawful if the prorogation has the effect of frustrating or preventing, the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions as a legislature and as the body responsible for the supervision of the executive.
This was a representative democracy. The House of Commons exists because the people have elected its members. The Government is not directly elected by the people. The Government exists because it has the confidence of the Commons and has no democratic legitimacy other than that.
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