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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused by European Union officials of failing to negotiate seriously and branded the “father of lies” by a lawyer in the UK Supreme Court, as his plan to leave the EU in just over six weeks faced hurdles on both sides of the Channel.
In a report by AP, In Strasbourg, France, the European Parliament said it would be the fault of Britain, not the bloc if the UK crashed out of the EU without a divorce deal on the scheduled 31 October departure day.
In London, Johnson’s government battled to convince the UK’s top court that the prime minister’s decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks with Brexit looming was neither illegal nor improper. The government’s opponents claim Johnson illegally shut down the legislature to prevent lawmakers from scrutinising his Brexit plans.
Government lawyer James Eadie told 11 Supreme Court justices that the decision to send lawmakers home until 14 October was “inherently and fundamentally political in nature,” and not a matter for the judiciary. He said that if the court intervened it would violate the “fundamental constitutional principle” of the separation of powers.
