FROM the illegal prorogation of Parliament to the announcement by a Government minister that Boris Johnson plans to break international law, the Tories’ contempt for the rule of law has been clear for all to see. Just look at Dominic Cummings’s jaunt to Barnard Castle during the middle of a national lockdown and a global pandemic and tell me that the Conservative Party is not stacked to the rafters with people who think the rules don’t apply to them.

The Russia Report, released recently after being suppressed for over a year by this Tory Government, gave an assessment of the level of Russian interference in political and economic life in the United Kingdom. The UK Government, it noted, has turned a blind eye to this interference for years, asking “few questions – if any” as long as the rubles kept flowing in.

On the topic of the EU referendum, it makes the same observation: the UK Government had not raised a finger to investigate if there was Russian interference in the vote. As my colleague Stewart Hosie – who sits on the Intelligence and Security Committee – noted “the UK Government have actively avoided looking for evidence that Russia interfered. We were told that they hadn’t seen any evidence, but that is meaningless if they hadn’t looked for it”.

The report recommended that the UK Government instruct the intelligence community to carry out a retrospective assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 EU referendum. The Government ignored that.

Earlier this month, my SNP colleague Stewart McDonald asked the Foreign Secretary directly if he would implement the recommendations of the report and investigate whether there was Russian interference in our democratic processes? Dominic Raab dodged the question, replying: “I am not saying too much more than we said in our response to the Select Committee recommendation.”

It won’t shock you to hear there wasn’t much in that either – the Government response to the recommendation that Raab so carefully avoided saying was simply that “a retrospective assessment of the EU referendum is not necessary”. According to whom? Not the Intelligence and Security Committee, nor the millions of people in Scotland who want to ensure that our elections are free and fair. It is certainly not my view.

I was a litigant in the Article 50 case which took the UK Government all the way to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to clarify the revocability of Article 50 and I am firmly of the view that judges and the courts have a role to play in clarifying the responsibilities of the government. In this case, I believe the potential failure of the UK Government to maintain and defend the integrity of our democracy merits judicial oversight.

One of the fundamental responsibilities and obligations of a democratic state is to ensure the regular running of free and fair elections. I am increasingly concerned that Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings – who illegally prorogued Parliament and prefer off-the-record briefings to proper scrutiny – view democracy as a distraction. Let me be clear: I do not think they are tyrants or totalitarians. I think they are lazy, self-serving and arrogant, and I do not think Boris Johnson is fulfilling the basic obligations that a prime minister has to the state and its citizens.

The UK Government, and all of us in positions of responsibility, are under an obligation to “ensure conditions which ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people”. I am of the view that further scrutiny of this failing is necessary and is unlikely to be delivered by Government or a Parliament with an enormous Tory majority.

A full investigation of the issues raised by the Russia Report is, in my view, the only way in which this scrutiny will come about. In light of the Government’s refusal to take action, I am bringing this claim so that the courts can determine whether the Government’s refusal is lawful and what further action it should be taking.

I hope that this court case will shed light on the Government’s refusal to follow the recommendations made by MPs and the Intelligence and Security Committee. In the era of fake news and social media bots, our democracy is increasingly under threat from many angles and it’s up to all of us to protect it. Prime Minister, that includes you.