Boris Johnson news: Government tells public to ‘get ready’ in £100m advertising blitz amid slew of dire no-deal warnings
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson has called for the UK and EU to “step up the tempo” on Brexit talks, with No 10’s team of negotiators set to meet their counterparts in Brussels twice a week next month as the 31 October deadline looms.
It comes as former prime minister Sir John Major announced he would join a legal bid to block Mr Johnson’s move to suspend parliament for almost five weeks.
As rebel Tory MPs threaten to join opposition efforts to prevent a no-deal Brexit, organisers are hoping “hundreds of thousands” of people will take part in disruptive protests against the prorogation over the weekend.
Lord Doherty has rejected a request to temporarily halt Boris Johnson plans to suspend of parliament.
However, the ruling is not a decision on the merits of the prime minister's move itself.
Lord Doherty said he was "not satisfied that it has been demonstrated that there's a need for an interim suspension" to the prorogation of parliament given that there is a full hearing on the legality of the move scheduled for next week.
He added: "A substantive hearing is set to place for Friday September 6, before the first possible date parliament could be prorogued."
Lord Doherty has brought forward a substantive hearing on proroguing parliament from Friday to Tuesday next week in the "interest of justice".
Aiden O'Neill QC, representing those who are challenging Boris Johnson's move, had argued in court for the substantive hearing to be moved forward
He said: "There is an urgency to this - any delay is prejudicial - not just to the prejudice of the petitioners, but to the country as a whole."
The judge said: "I'm going to move the substantive hearing forward to Tuesday.
"Weighing consideration in the balance, it's in the interest of justice that it proceeds sooner rather than later."
The group challenging prorogation in an Edinburgh court have said Boris Johnson should be compelled to provide a sworn witness statement about his reasons for the move
This tweets are from the SNP's justice spokeswoman, who is heading up the legal action:
Gina Miller's legal challenge to Boris Johnson proroguing parliament is going to be heard at the High Court in London on Thursday, she has announced.
Miller also confirmed the Sir John Major will be supporting the action, as the former Tory PM said earlier he was looking to do.
It means Downing Street will be fighting two separate challenges to the suspension of parliament in three days. Next week is going to be a busy one for government lawyers.
Campaigners behind one of the legal challenges against proroguing parliament remain hopeful Edinburgh's Court of Session will rule in their favour following today's decision against them, which they say "just kicks the can a few days down the road".
More than half of the British public don't trust Boris Johnson to make the right choices on Brexit, a YouGov poll has found.
Fifty-five per cent of those surveyed said they did not have have faith in the prime minister's decision-making as the UK's exit from the EU looms, while little more than a third (34%) trust him to steer the country down the right paith.
Sixty-seven per cent of the general public think Johnson will be unable get a Brexit deal for the UK, a number which rises to 84 per cent among Remainers. Fifty-five per cent of Leave supporters feel it is unlikely he will secure a deal, while 32 per cent believe he will.
Respondents were surveyed on 22 and 23 August, before the PM announced he was proroguing parliament. You can see more of the poll results here.
The end of the summer recess can't come soon enough for some MPs, judging by the way Monmouth Tory David Davies is passing the time.
He has written a letter - on official parliamentary notepaper, no less - to The 1975, berating the band for going on tour after collaborating with Greta Thunberg to speak out about climate change.
Boris Johnson could face cross-examination at Scotland's highest civil court to explain his reasons for suspending parliament, according to a legal expert.
Opponents of prorogation today requested that the prime minister issues a sworn witness statement to the Court of Session in Edinburgh, where a hearing will be held on Tuesday to decide if the parliamentary shutdown is legal.
Nick McKerrell, a lecturer in law at Glasgow Caledonian University, said it was an "interesting development".
He added: "This could mean he potentially could face cross-examination. This is not automatically granted though and it would be yet another extremely unusual process if the court agreed to that."
Tuesday's hearing was brought forward from next Friday after the judge ruled it would be "in the interest of justice that it proceeds sooner rather than later".
Mr McKerell said this was "significant" but gave no indication of how strong Lord Doherty thinks the arguments to block the suspension are.
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