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Parliament must vote on whether the UK can start the process of leaving the EU, the High Court has ruled.
This means the government cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - beginning formal exit negotiations with the EU - on its own.
Theresa May says the referendum - and existing ministerial powers - mean MPs do not need to vote, but campaigners called this unconstitutional.
The government is appealing, with a further hearing expected next month.
- Rolling reaction to Article 50 court ruling
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- The High Court's judgement in full
- Brexit: All you need to know
A statement is to be made to MPs on Monday but the prime minister's official spokesman said the government had "no intention of letting" the judgement "derail Article 50 or the timetable we have set out. We are determined to continue with our plan".
Plebiscites only count when plebes vote the way they're told.
(Score: 3, Informative) by choose another one on Friday November 04 2016, @10:19AM
A major difference was that the result of the Scottish referendum was legally binding
NO it was not, it was simply _assumed_ to be that way, as with the EU referendum. In fact there is a difference between "a legal obligation to abide by the result and a political commitment" (in that a political commitment isn't worth the paper, or the bus, it is written on). There is actually nothing in the Scottish referendum legislation to make it binding. it was only "politically" binding in that all political parties agreed that they would implement the result, legislation in (both UK and Scottish) parliament would still have been required (see e.g. committee proceedings here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmscotaf/542/54204.htm [parliament.uk] ).
The AV (alternative vote) referendum is a good example of an _in effect_ binding referendum in the UK, parliament passed all the legislation, every little detail, that would put AV into effect, but stated that it would only come into effect if the referendum was won (which it wasn't). A cursory examination of the run up to the Scottish referendum shows that this sort of process was not followed - none of the legal details of independence were in place or even agreed.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Friday November 04 2016, @09:31PM
You are quite right. mea culpa.
I got my referendums (form of plural deliberately chosen) mixed up. Yes, the AV Referendum was the binding one.
It still demonstrates the EU Referendum Act could have been drafted better.