Boris Johnson Wins Belfast Court Ruling on No-Deal Brexit

(Bloomberg) -- A Northern Irish court ruled that a no-deal Brexit wouldn’t violate the Good Friday peace accord, handing Prime Minister Boris Johnson a legal victory in one of a string of cases related to his plans to leave the European Union.

Judge Bernard McCloskey in Belfast Thursday said the debate over the peace accord is a purely political matter in a ruling that was immediately taken up by an appellate court.

The opinion is a boost for Johnson after a court a few hundred miles away in Edinburgh on Wednesday ruled that the prime minister’s plan to suspend Parliament in the run up to the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline was an unlawful abuse of power. A few days earlier, a court in London ruled, like McCloskey, that the issue was not for the courts.

“I consider the characterization of the subject matter of these proceedings as inherently and unmistakably political to be beyond plausible dispute,” McCloskey said.

Raymond McCord, whose son was killed in the political violence that dogged Northern Ireland for decades, had brought the Belfast case, arguing that leaving the EU without a deal would breach the peace deal known as the Good Friday Agreement. EU membership facilitated an open border on the island of Ireland and a no-deal exit could put that at risk.

There was confusion immediately after the Belfast ruling about whether McCord’s case would be heard along with the Scottish and English cases related to the suspension of Parliament at the U.K. Supreme Court next week.

A claim related to the so-called prorogation of Parliament had been sidelined to focus on the peace accord issue. Appellate judges said at a hearing Thursday afternoon that McCord’s lawyers could appeal that decision, but strongly encouraged them to instead apply directly to the Supreme Court.

“We say Northern Ireland should be represented in the Supreme Court in relation to prorogation, because it ties in with the Good Friday Agreement,” Ciaran O’Hare, McCord’s lawyer, said after the ruling. “The people of Northern Ireland will be worst affected by a no-deal Brexit and so we say that these matters should be progressed expeditiously.”

Nine judges from the U.K.’s top court will meet Sept. 17 to review the Parliament cases in what could be the most closely watched court proceedings in the country’s history.

While Johnson had suffered several political defeats in Parliament, he had fared better in court until Wednesday’s stinging setback in Scotland. The threat of prorogation galvanized Labour politicians and a group of Conservative rebels into passing a bill requiring the prime minister to push back the date when the U.K. leaves the European Union if he can’t get a deal in Brussels.

The ruling adds to a mixture of competing verdicts from England and Scotland that have been delivered over the past 10 days. An Edinburgh court ruled that the suspension of Parliament -- already under effect -- stymied lawmakers, while London judges said that the matter didn’t fall under their oversight.

The lawsuits aren’t going away anytime soon. After the Scottish Court of Sessions ruled Wednesday that Johnson’s suspension of Parliament was unlawful, the prime minister faces a new challenge in the same court.

Ecotricity Group Ltd. Founder Dale Vince -- a donor to the opposition Labour Party -- is seeking an immediate order that the premier should comply with the law passed last week by Parliament, compelling him to seek a Brexit delay if he hasn’t secured a deal by Oct. 19. Vince has teamed up with Jolyon Maugham, the lawyer who spearheaded Wednesday’s case.

If the injunction is granted, and Johnson doesn’t write a letter seeking to extend negotiations, Vince said he’ll ask the court to sign and send the letter to the EU itself.

--With assistance from Alex Morales.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Browning in Belfast at jbrowning9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser, Peter Chapman

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