Members of Parliament must have a say in the Brexit process
The High Court has ruled Parliament must vote on whether the UK can start the process of leaving the EU.
This means that the government cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty on its own.
The PM believes that the Brexit vote and ministerial powers mean Members of Parliament (MPs) do not need to vote, however campaigners have argued that this is unconstitutional.
The government will appeal the decision.
A government spokesman said: “The country voted to leave the European Union in a referendum approved by Act of Parliament. And the government is determined to respect the result of the referendum. We will appeal this judgement.”
Ministers have been given the go ahead for another hearing to take place at the Supreme Court, this will be held before the end of the year.
Charlie Mullins, founder and CEO, Pimlico Plumbers believes the government should abandon the idea of a Supreme Court ruling. He said:
“It’s so simple that I would urge Theresa May and the Government to think long and hard about going through with its promised appeal to the Supreme Court, and perhaps they will once their own legal counsel explain to them just what a trouncing they received today,”
“I’ve always said that this case was not only about abiding by the law and acting in a way that is consistent with the UK’s constitution, although that is of massive importance. But also it’s about creating an environment of certainty for everyone, especially business, and I think the pound rocketing upwards by two cents against the dollar this morning was evidence of what a force for good constitutional clarity is.”
May wants to activate Article 50 by the end of next March. The decision goes ahead after the EU exit came on top during June’s referendum, with 51.9 per cent of people wanting to leave and 48.1 per cent wishing to stay.
The EU’s other 27 countries have stated that negotiations for the exit cannot go ahead until Article 50 is triggered.
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