British Supreme Court Rules MPs Must Vote on Triggering Brexit

The British establishment is fighting back against Brexit with one last gasp.

The UK’s highest court dealt a blow to Theresa May on Tuesday by ruling the government must hold a parliamentary vote before triggering the EU exit process, reports the Financial Times.

In what FT called one of the most important constitutional cases of modern times, the British Supreme Court ruled by a majority of 8 to 3 that the prime minister cannot use royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 and start the UK’s two-year exit from the EU.

Instead, she must hold a vote of MPs and peers to begin the process by the end of March.

May is expected to rush a brief bill through both Houses of Parliament. The Supreme Court ruling said this bill could be “very short indeed, but that would not undermine its momentous significance”.

However, notes FT, MPs from across the political spectrum will use the occasion to challenge the government’s negotiating tactics and there are concerns that even a short bill could be amended.

  -RW

UPDATE

The UK government is going to push through a "straightforward" bill authorizing Britain's exit from the European Union, within days, the Brexit secretary said on Tuesday.

He suggested that the government would publish only a simple one-line bill authorizing Brexit, thereby limiting the opportunities for MPs to attach any conditions to their support for Article 50.

"We will within days introduce legislation to give the government the legal power to trigger Article 5o and begin the formal process of withdrawal," he told the Commons.

"This will be the most straightforward bill possible to give effect to the decision of the people and respect the Supreme Court judgment."

(via Business Insider)