Johnson accuses opposition of ‘running to the courts’ in charged exchanges

Boris Johnson has refused to apologise for unlawfully advising Queen Elizabeth to prorogue parliament, accusing opposition MPs of "running to the courts" in an attempt to block Brexit.

As MPs returned to Westminster following Tuesday’s supreme court ruling, Mr Johnson challenged opposition parties to vote no confidence in his government and trigger a general election.

“Instead of facing the voters, the opposition turned tail and fled from an election. Instead of deciding to let the voters decide, they ran to the courts instead,” he said.

“And despite the fact that I followed the exact same process as my predecessors in calling a Queen’s Speech, the supreme court was asked to intervene in this process for the first time ever and it is absolutely no disrespect to the judiciary to say I think the court was wrong to pronounce on what is essentially a political question at a time of great national controversy.”

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Public appeal

Mr Johnson said the opposition was seeking to delay Britain’s departure from the EU and to prevent his government from increasing spending on health and policing.

Signalling his intention to frame the next general election as a contest between the people and parliament, he appealed to the public watching proceedings at Westminster.

“The people outside this place understand what is happening. They know that nothing can disguise the truth about this parliament,” he said.

“They see MPs demanding that the people be given a say, then running scared from the election that would provide them with one. And worst of all they see ever-more elaborate legal and political manoeuvres from the party opposite which is determined, absolutely determined, to say ‘we know best’ and thumb their noses at the 17.4 million people who voted to leave the European Union.”

In emotionally charged exchanges, female opposition MPs accused the prime minister of putting them in danger by using provocative language.

But Mr Johnson dismissed the criticism and referred repeatedly to a law aimed at preventing a no-deal Brexit as a “surrender act”.

He compared his feeling of vulnerability as a cyclist in London to the level of abuse MPs are facing. Labour’s Tracey Brabin, who succeeded murdered MP Jo Cox in Batley and Spen, called on the prime minister to “moderate his language so that we will all feel secure when we’re going about our jobs”.

Unfit for office

Mr Johnson said the best way to honour the memory of Ms Cox, who campaigned for Remain in the days before her murder during the referendum campaign, was to get Brexit done.

“I absolutely do, I think it is the continuing inability of this parliament to get Brexit done that is causing the anxiety and the ill-feeling that is now rampant in our country. Get it done and we will solve the problem,” he said.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Mr Johnson had shown himself to be unfit for his office by breaking the law in his attempt to prorogue parliament.

“For the good of this country, he should go. He says he wants a general election. I want an election. It’s very simple – if you want an election, get an extension and let’s have an election,” he said.

Mr Johnson said that if any opposition party tabled a motion of no confidence in his government by close of business on Wednesday night, his government would allocate time for it on Thursday.

Downing Street suggested that failure to trigger a no confidence vote could open the way for a short prorogation of parliament to allow the government to unveil a new legislative programme in a Queen’s Speech.