The Supreme Court has dismissed the Government’s appeal by a majority 8-3 and ruled that the process to leave the EU must be authorised by an Act of Parliament. It also ruled that the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly did not need to be consulted before Article 50 is triggered.
Lord Neuberger, President of the Supreme Court, stated “When the UK withdraws from the EU treaties a source of UK law will be cut off. Therefore, the government cannot trigger Article 50 without Parliament authorising that course.”
This may impact the Prime Minister’s plans to trigger Article 50 before the end of March 2017, however, it is anticipated that a short bill will be put before Parliament in an effort to maintain this deadline. The Supreme Court ruling acknowledged this and stated the bill might be “very short indeed, but that would not undermine its momentous significance”.