Delay in first legal challenge to UK’s Brexit plans

LONDON (AP) — The first legal challenge to prevent British Prime Minister Boris Johnson from suspending Parliament amid the U.K.’s Brexit crisis was delayed in a Scottish court on Friday.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh refused to take immediate legal action to prevent Johnson from suspending Parliament for several weeks during part of the period before the Brexit deadline of October 31.

Judge Raymond Doherty, however, said a full hearing on the case will be heard Tuesday, raising the prospect that the government’s move could still be blocked.

He said there is no need for an immediate injunction because a “substantive” hearing on the case will be heard next week.

The full hearing had originally been set for September 6 but was moved up.

Law professor Nick McKerrell at Glasgow Caledonian University said the decision to speed up the hearing may be significant because it indicates the matter is being treated with urgency.

“This is not the end of the matter,” he said after the judge declined to take immediate action.

The case was brought by a cross-party group of legislators seeking to broaden the period for parliamentary debate in a bid to prevent a disorderly departure by Britain from the European Union.

Two other legal cases are in progress, one in Northern Ireland and another in London. Former Prime Minister John Major said Friday he is seeking to join the case in London to argue against suspension.

“If granted permission to intervene, I intend to seek to assist the court from the perspective of having served in government as a minister and prime minister, and also in Parliament for many years as a member of the House of Commons,” he said.

Major is an outspoken critic of Brexit who had vowed to intervene legally if Johnson sought to prevent parliamentary debate on the issue.

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