[UPDATE-1] :: Fresh Brexit legal challenge blocked by high court | The Guardian |
Two senior judges have blocked a legal challenge to the government’s strategy for leaving the single market and the European Economic Area.
In a hearing at the high court that lasted less than an hour, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mr Justice Lewis dismissed an application for a fresh judicial review of the Brexit process brought by two sets of claimants.
…
James Eadie QC, for the government, told the hearing that since ministers had not yet decided which legal route would be taken to leave the EEA, then the challenge was “premature” and should be rejected.George Peretz QC, for the lead claimants, told the court that the government’s failure to specify what legal mechanism it would use for quitting the EEA was in danger of creating “profound legal uncertainty and chaos”.
The European court of justice in Luxembourg, which decides EU law, may need to be consulted to resolve the confusion over how the UK “disentangles” itself from other European states, George Peretz QC said.
The government partially resisted the judicial review application on the grounds that no decision about how to leave the EEA had yet been made and that it was therefore not a decision that was open to challenge.
The new case revolved around article 127 of the European Economic Area treaty, which states: “Each contracting party may withdraw from this agreement provided it gives at least 12 months’ notice in writing to the other contracting parties.”
The challenge was brought by Adrian Yalland and Peter Wilding, who runs the pro-single market organisation British Influence. Wilding is the man credited with inventing the term Brexit in 2012.
Brexit: MPs overwhelmingly back Article 50 bill | BBC News |
MPs have voted by a majority of 384 to allow Prime Minister Theresa May to get Brexit negotiations under way.
They backed the government’s European Union Bill, supported by the Labour leadership, by 498 votes to 114.
But the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats opposed the bill, while 47 Labour MPs and Tory ex-chancellor Ken Clarke rebelled.
The bill now faces further scrutiny in the Commons and the House of Lords before it can become law.
The prime minister has set a deadline of 31 March for invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, getting official talks with the EU started. The bill returns to the Commons next week.
More below the fold …
A fifth of Labour MPs defy three line whip to vote against article 50 bill | The Guardian |
A fifth of Labour MPs defied Jeremy Corbyn’s three-line whip to vote against legislation granting Theresa May the power to trigger the UK’s exit from the European Union.
After a second day of impassioned debate in the House of Commons, a total of 498 MPs voted to give a second reading to the short bill granting the government the power to invoke article 50, while 114 voted against.
…
Even before MPs filed through to vote, Corbyn was hit by two fresh resignations from the shadow cabinet, by Labour MPs who felt they could not support what they said would be a historic mistake.Rachael Maskell quit as shadow environment, food and rural affairs secretary, telling the Guardian: “I said I would first of all serve my constituents and that is the most important thing for me.”
Dawn Butler stepped down as shadow minister for diverse communities. She tweeted that it had “been an honour to serve in shadow cabinet doing a job I love. Can’t let down future generations voting against poor excuse of a bill”.
Corbyn thanked both MPs and described them as “great assets to the Labour party and to our movement”.
UK lawmakers pave way for May’s Brexit plans | Deutsche Welle |
Despite dissent from opposition parliamentarians and even from members of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative party, the lower house voted on Wednesday in favor of the curt Article 50 bill that gives the government the power to begin unwinding the United Kingdom’s membership in the European Union.
It was the first Brexit-related vote in Parliament after a Supreme Court ruling forced May to gain lawmakers’ approval before triggering exit negotiations.
The vote allows the bill to progress to a committee stage. There, MPs will scrutinize the legislation in greater depth and attempt to amend it before it moves onward to the House of Lords, where it also needs to gain approved.