prorogation

Defections are also wiped away; so the two seats occupied by the Alba Party at prorogation are officially SNP defences, as is Lisa Cameron's former East Kilbride seat, despite her defection to the Tories.

There had already been worries at Buckingham Palace about Mr Johnson's government's behaviour after the Commons had been kept closed the previous summer - the so-called "prorogation" in 2019 which had been technically carried out by the Queen.

And in the United Kingdom, Brenda Hale, the president of the Supreme Court, made headlines when she wore a brooch in the shape of a spider to deliver her verdict concerning Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament in 2019.

He also referenced the unlawful prorogation of Parliament in 2019 when the Brexit deal was being debated, and the controversy over lobbying by former Conservative MP Owen Paterson.

"This government has done a number of things that have concerned me deeply: they have broken the law, the illegal prorogation of Parliament. They have broken treaties, I have in mind the Northern Ireland Protocol. They have broken their word on many occasions."