The power to suspend parliament is a political matter and not for the courts to decide, the government's lawyers have argued
Speaking in court today, Sir James said in his opening remarks:"We are dealing with a prerogative power.One justice posed the question of what would happen if a PM decided he did want to stifle the scrutiny of his actions and prorogued for a year. Sir James acknowledged the potential extreme use of it but told the court that principles shouldn't be established by being tested against the extreme.
Sir James also argued that MPs had their chance to legislate against prorogation, saying that they passed a new act which compelled the prime minister to ask for an extension if no new deal was offered, and so they should have added more details into that bill if they wanted to avoid parliamentary suspension.
Pointing the judges to the cabinet minutes and memos to Mr Johnson which have been submitted as evidence, Sir James said it was clear that the main aim of the prorogation was to get to a position in which a new Queen's speech could be prepared and not for any"improper purpose". Sir James also refuted the idea that any of the case law examples brought by Lord Pannick on Tuesday amounted to evidence that a court could rule how long a period of prorogation should be, and argued that a court could not rule on the length of prorogation because it's a political decision.
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