London: The UK Parliament is a “dead parliament” and its MPs have no moral right to sit in Westminster, the government’s chief law officer said on Wednesday, after the House of Commons reconvened amid dramatic and angry scenes.

Attorney-General Geoffrey Cox, playing a warm-up act for Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was due to make a statement later in the day, did not apologise for the government having shut down Parliament unlawfully.

‘This parliament is a dead parliament,’ Geoffrey Cox said.Credit:AP

Parliament has not sat for more than a fortnight, after Johnson advised the Queen to prorogue (suspend) it until mid-October. However the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled his advice was unlawful and the prorogation null and void.

Cox, who had advised the government its tactic was lawful, was the first government minister to face questions in the reassembled assembly.

He said the government accepted the court’s judgement and “accepts that it lost the case”.

“At all times the government acted in good faith and in the belief that its approach was both lawful and constitutional,” Cox said.

“The court of last resort ultimately disagreed with it, but in doing so made new law as it was entirely entitled to do.”

In a coded rebuke to his government colleagues, he said the court’s decision could be criticised but “we must be sure in everything we say… that we do not impute improper motives” to the Supreme Court judges.

Government figures have worked overtime to anonymously criticise the court in quotes provided to the British press.

There were angry scenes as British lawmakers returned to the House of Commons.Credit:AP

But he received a blistering response from Labour’s Barry Sheerman.

“I came into the Chamber today thinking I felt sorry for the Attorney General but every word he has uttered today shows no shame, no shame at all,” Sheerman said.

“This government cynically manipulated the prorogation to shut down this House, so that it could not work as a democratic assembly. He knows that that is the truth, and to come here with his barrister’s bluster to obfuscate the truth, and for a man like him, a party like his, and a leader like this Prime Minister to talk about morals and morality is a disgrace.”

Former Conservative government minister, now independent MP, Amber Rudd said Parliament had been elected in 2017 and “reflects the divisions in this country”.

She said she was concerned the Attorney General’s language was “pitting Parliament against the people”.

Labour's and other Opposition leaders have said they will not vote for an election until they are sure the government cannot push the country into a no-deal Brexit on October 31.

After Cox, Parliament debated a growing scandal around Boris Johnson’s alleged failure to declare a conflict of interest, while mayor of London, over sponsorship and grants given to a young tech entrepreneur and former model.

Senior Cabinet minister Michael Gove was also put on the spot over the government’s no-deal Brexit preparations, and the government's attempt to disguise its no-deal Brexit expectations as a "worst-case scenario".

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