Boris Johnson news: PM forced to return early from UN as Corbyn demands election following Supreme Court humiliation
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson is returning the UK to face urgent questions in parliament after the Supreme Court declared his government unlawfully shut it down for five weeks.
The prime minister was forced to cut short his trip to the UN General Assembly in New York to attend the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for Mr Johnson to “consider his position” following the landmark decision, while Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson said he was “not fit” to be PM.
Speaking in New York, the prime minister said his government will “respect” the court verdict and added that “of course parliament will come back”.
Downing Street confirmed that he had spoken to the Queen by phone but refused to say whether he had apologised for advising her to prorogue parliament.
It was also reported that Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the House, had described the ruling as a “constitutional coup”.
See below for our coverage of events as they happened
Jeremy Corbyn is now on stage, and kicks things off saying: "This is an extraordinary and precarious moment in our country’s history.
"The prime minister has been found to have acted illegally when he tried to shut down parliament.The highest court in the land has found that Boris Johnson broke the law when he tried to shut down democratic accountability at a crucial moment for our public life.
"The prime minister acted illegally when he tried to shut down opposition to his reckless and disastrous plan to crash out of the European Union without a deal. But he has failed. He will never shut down our democracy or silence the voices of the people."
Corbyn continues: "Tomorrow parliament will return. The government will be held to account for what it has done. Boris Johnson has been found to have misled the country. This unelected Prime minister should now resign.
"That would make him the shortest serving British prime minister in history and rightly so. His is a born-to-rule government of the entitled who believe that the rules they set for everyone else don’t apply to them."
The crowds of Labour conference break out into chants of "Johnson out!".
Corbyn says the crisis can "only be settled with a general election".
"That election needs to take place as soon as this government’s threat of a disastrous no deal is taken off the table. That condition is what MPs passed into law before Boris Johnson illegally closed down parliament."
On a no-deal Brexit, he says: "The battle over no-deal isn’t a struggle between those who want to leave the EU and those who want to remain. It’s about a small rightwing group who are trying to hijack the referendum result to rip up our rights and protections to shift even more power and wealth to those at the top.
"Under the cover of no-deal they want to sell off what’s left of our public services strip away the regulations that keep us safe while slashing corporate taxes even further. That would mean a race to the bottom in standards and workers’ rights to create an offshore tax haven for the super-rich.
"And they want all of this locked in with a one-sided free trade deal that would put our country at the mercy of Donald Trump.
"That’s why a no-deal Brexit is really a Trump Deal Brexit. That would be the opposite of taking back control. It would be handing our country’s future to the US president and his America First policy.
"Of course Trump is delighted to have a compliant British prime minister in his back pocket. A Trump Deal Brexit would mean US corporations getting the green light for a comprehensive takeover of our public services."
On Labour's Brexit policy, Corbyn says: "Labour will end the Brexit crisis by taking the decision back to the people with the choice of a credible leave deal alongside remain.
"That’s not complicated Labour is a democratic party that trusts the people. After three and a half years of Tory Brexit failure and division, the only way we can settle this issue and bring people back together is by taking the decision out of the hands of politicians and letting the people decide.
"Within three months of coming to power a Labour government will secure a sensible deal based on the terms we have long advocated and discussed with the EU trade unions and businesses: a new customs union a close single market relationship . and guarantees of rights and protections.
Within six months of being elected, he says: " We will put that deal to a public vote alongside remain. And as a Labour prime minister I pledge to carry out whatever the people decide.
"Only a vote for Labour will deliver a public vote on Brexit. Only a Labour government will put the power back into the hands of the people. We can bring our country and our people together. Let’s stop a No Deal Brexit and let the people decide.
"We must get Brexit settled not least because Brexit has dominated our politics for too long. The coming election will be a once-in-a-generation chance for real change."
On Labour's policy, he says a Labour government will scrap zero hours contracts, introduce a £10 living wage, and introduce radical measures, "such as giving the workforce a 10 per cent stake in large companies, paying a dividend of up to £500 a year to every employee".
He adds: "It’s Labour that will get more money into your pocket, rather than line the pockets of multi-millionaires. And we will give people a democratic voice at work, allowing them to secure better terms and pay for themselves."
"We’ll bring rail, mail, water and the national grid into public ownership so the essential services that we all rely on are run by and for the public not for profit."
Unveiling a new policy at party conference, Corbyn says his government will end the system of putting profits for shareholders before people's lives in regards to medicine.
"Labour will tackle this. We will redesign the system to serve public health - not private wealth - using compulsory licensing to secure generic versions of patented medicines.
"We’ll tell the drugs companies that if they want public research funding then they’ll have to make their drugs affordable for all. And we will create a new publicly owned generic drugs manufacturer to supply cheaper medicines to our NHS saving our health service money and saving lives. We are the party that created the NHS. Only Labour can be trusted with its future.
"My parents’ generation fought hard to establish the principle of a universal health service owned and run by the public. They left it in our trust. It’s our duty to defend it. We will end the sell-offs and privatisation. Our NHS is not for sale not to Trump or anyone else."
Corbyn now moves back on to Boris Johnson and Brexit, saying: "Dangerous and wrong-headed international interventions have also exacerbated community tensions at home. When Boris Johnson compared Muslim women to letterboxes or bank robbers, it wasn’t a flippant comment, it was calculated to play on people’s fears. Displays of racism, Islamophobia or antisemitism are not signs of strength, but of weakness.
"This Conservative government as well as the far-right has fuelled division in our society. They’ll blame people’s problems on the migrant worker trying to make a better life. They’ll blame it on the mum who’s struggling on Universal Credit. They’ll blame it on Muslims, on young people, on anyone but themselves and their backers, who benefit from a grossly unequal and rigged system.
"Labour will do the opposite, we will bring people together. A Labour government will transform our economy and communities. We stand not just for the 52 per cent or the 48 per cent but for the 99 per cent."
Concluding his speech, the Labour leader says: "If the British people elect a Labour government in the coming election I will be proud to be your Prime Minister. Because I will be a different kind of Prime Minister. Not there from a sense of born-to-rule entitlement. Certainly not there for some personal power trip. There because I want to put government on your side. To put power and wealth into your hands.There because I believe government should work for you.
"And together, we can go beyond defending the gains made by previous generations. It’s time we started building a country fit for the next generation. Where young people don’t fear the future but look forward with confidence and hope.
"The tide is turning.The years of retreat and defeat are coming to an end. Together, we’ll take on the privileged, and put the people in power. Thank you."
Jeremy Corbyn has branded Boris Johnson unfit to be prime minister, as he demanded an early election as soon as a no-deal Brexit is off the table.
Speaking to Labour’s conference in Brighton hours after a devastating Supreme Court ruling found Mr Johnson’s suspension of parliament was unlawful, Mr Corbyn said the “tide is turning” on the Conservative government and promised to “put the people in power”.
The conference erupted into chants of “Johnson out” as the Labour leader repeated his call for the prime minister to resign.
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