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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.
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- The High Court's judgement in full
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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: 4, Informative) by fritsd on Friday November 04 2016, @10:39AM
From the side of the UK: the issue is, that for the past 40 years, brits have been living under laws some of which were influenced by EU law; especially w.r.t. working hours, environmental issues, work environment etc.
To change these laws all in one go (Brexit) and turn the UK into the Tory wet dream of a cheap-labour country with few workers' rights, is beyond the power of just the executive government. The parliament has to have a vote in it.
The parliament signed those things into law, the parliament has to scratch them out of the law books as well.
From the side of the EU: in 2019 the next EU budget will have to be made, and they'd find it a much cleaner break if the UK is already out by that time, because the budget is going to shrink significantly. If article 50 is invoked soon, then it is guaranteed that the whole circus will be over by early 2019, because the "divorce" has a deadline of max. 2 years. This also minimizes the length of time that companies in the EU have uncertainty over what's going to happen.
It could be that marh 2017 article 50 is invoked, which just means "the government of the UK officially says to the EU that they're leaving", and that there's a so-called "hard Brexit" a month later, that it's all done & dusted by april 2017. The 2 years is a maximum length of time.