Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ruled that decisions by the country’s new opposition-controlled legislature are void until three banned opposition lawmakers are removed from office, deepening a power struggle in the oil-rich nation. The Latin American country is in the grip of a political stand-off between President Nicolás Maduro, the Socialist president, who was heavily defeated by the opposition party in last month’s parliamentary elections amid worsening economic crisis. The latest flashpoint involves three opposition lawmakers whose inauguration last week was barred by the Supreme Court — an institution that critics say was packed with loyalists of Mr Maduro in late December to curtail the opposition’s supermajority in the parliamentary assembly. On Monday, the high court rejected the lawmakers’ inaugurations, ruling that “decisions taken or to be taken by the National Assembly while these citizens are incorporated will be absolutely null”. Diosdado Cabello, the former socialist head of the legislature and Venezuela’s second most powerful man, added that “if the assembly is in contempt” neither citizens nor authorities are “obliged to acknowledge” its actions — including a mooted amnesty law for jailed opposition activists.