MPs return to parliament today after the Supreme Court yesterday ruled its shutdown was unlawful. So now what? The talk is of a no confidence vote – and Johnson surely deserves it – but Labour wants to avoid being bounced immediately into an election without first ensuring No Deal is off the table. Johnson’s been legally mandated to ask for an extension if no withdrawal deal with the EU is struck in the next few weeks, but who trusts Johnson to abide by the law, given his history, yesterday’s devastating ruling against him, and his arrogant, bullish reaction to it?
With parliament recalled, there is time for an alternative outcome, with an alternative PM given time to attempt to piece together a commons majority and form a government.
We’re told on the airwaves that any such PM could only be supported if they almost immediately dissolved parliament. But why? There’s no constitutional or democratic imperative to do either – though as my colleague Adam Ramsay has set out, the media has in recent years attempted to rewrite what our constitution says to prevent just a progressive coalition government. In fact, such a government would be no less legitimate than Johnson taking over as PM without an election, clinging to his reactionary coalition even as his majority vanishes. The only people who’ll tell you different are the establishment, who still see the Tories as the ‘natural party of government’. But as we’ve seen in Italy recently, there is nothing wrong or improper about the party of government changing mid-term, so long as the MPs who put them in place were elected. And indeed, Labour, the Lib Dems, the SNP, Greens, and Plaid between them got well over 50% of the vote, compared to the Conservatives 42.4%. So they absolutely have a mandate to address our current crises, from Brexit and austerity to climate change and the constitution.
