UK says will implement court decision for parliament to approve Brexit trigger

Record ID: 165507

  • Title: UK says will implement court decision for parliament to approve Brexit trigger
  • Date: 24th January 2017
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (JANUARY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) ATTORNEY GENERAL, JEREMY WRIGHT, COMING OUT OF COURT / LARGE CROWD OF MEDIA
  • Embargoed: 7th February 2017 10:48
  • Keywords: Supreme Court Article 50 Brexit parliament European Union Attorney General Jeremy Wright Gina Miller
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
  • Reuters ID: LVA00160FXBNR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Britain's Attorney General Jeremy Wright said on Tuesday (January 24) the government would implement a Supreme Court decision that Prime Minister Theresa May must obtain parliament's approval before she begins Britain's formal exit from the European Union.
    The UK's highest judicial body dismissed the government's argument that May could simply use executive powers known as "royal prerogative" to invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty and begin two years of divorce talks.
    However, the court rejected arguments that the UK's devolved assemblies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales should give their assent before Article 50 is invoked.
    May has repeatedly said she would trigger Article 50 before the end of March but she will now have to seek the consent of lawmakers first, potentially meaning her plans could be amended or delayed, although the main opposition Labour Party has said it would not slow her timetable.
    Lead claimant in the case, businesswoman Gina Miller, was delighted at the outcome.
    "Only parliament can grant rights to the British people and only parliament can take them away. No prime minister, no government can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged. Parliament alone is sovereign," she told the large crowd of media outside the court.
    "There is no doubt that Brexit is the most divisive issue of a generation, but this case was about the legal process not politics," she added.
    Last week May set out her stall for negotiations, promising a clean break with the world's largest trading block as part of a 12-point plan to focus on global free trade deals, setting out a course for a so-called "hard Brexit".
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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