On Tuesday as we went to press, a panel of 11 justices in Supreme Court declared that Boris Johnson’s advice to the Queen that Parliament should be prorogued for five weeks at the height of the Brexit crisis was unlawful. It was a major victory for the Indian-origin entrepreneur and campaigner Gina Miller, who had brought this legal challenge over Boris Johnson's decision to suspend the Parliament.
The ruling that was read out by Baroness Brenda Hale of Richmond DBE overturns the decision by three of the most senior judges in England and Wales, including the Lord Chief Justice, who earlier this month found that they did not have legal authority to intervene into government's decision. This was challenged by Miller in Supreme Court - the appeal hearing was held from 17-19 September and the judgement was read out on 24 September. Neither of the two main lawyers who represented the government, Lord Keen QC and Sir James Eadie QC, were in the court to hear the news of their crushing defeat.
Born as Gina Nadira Singh in British Guyana to Savitri and Doodnauth Singh, who later became Attorney General of Guyana, Miller grew up in the newly independent Guyana before being sent to England by her parents at the age of 10 to be educated at Moira House Girls School and Roedean School. Speaking to Asian Voice in an exclusive interview in 2017, she told us that though her family had roots in Punjab, all that theycould actually gather over the years - was that her grandfather (mother's father) was Sikh, who told them stories of travelling to Guyana from India on a boat.
She received the Asian Voice Political and Public Life Awards in 2017 as the 'Campaigner of the Year’. Miller rose to prominence when she had challenged the UK government in 2016 over its authority to trigger Article 50- the formal notification to withdraw from EU, without Parliamentary approval. With the Supreme Court's ruling in her favour in January 2017, she became a centre of hate for many Brexiteers.
Speaking to reporters outside of the court in Westminster on Tuesday, Miller, clad in a blue jacket, said this ruling has proved that the Prime minister was not above the law.
"Today is not a win for any individual or cause, it's a win for parliamentary sovereignty, the separation of powers and the independence of our British courts," she said.
"Crucially, today's ruling confirms that we are a nation governed by the rule of law- laws that everyone, even the prime minister, is not above.
"Do not let the government play down the seriousness of the judgment today.
"A unanimous judgment, they have spoken unequivocally.
"And when I say to the Prime Minister is to repeat Lady Hale's words: the order was a blank piece of paper. Parliament was not prorogued.
"MPs should turn up for work tomorrow and get on with scrutinising this government.
"We have had twice in three years to come to the Supreme Court, to ensure that the government does not put itself above the law. The ruling today speaks volumes.
"This Prime Minister must open the doors of parliament tomorrow.
"MPs must get back and be brave and bold in holding this unscrupulous government to account."
Responding to the judgment, the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, said he would recall Parliament on Wednesday at 11.30 am for urgent questions to ministers.
To read our 2017 exclusive interview with Gina Miller see https://www.asian-voice.com/News/UK/Not-everything-is-fair-about-Britain-Miller
