The government today asked the Supreme Court to overturn a controversial High Court ruling that Article 50, the mechanism for withdrawing from the European Union, cannot be triggered without parliamentary approval.
Only last month, the High Court gave judgment in the case, ruling that the secretary of state for exiting the European Union does not have power under the Crown’s prerogative to give notice pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union for the UK to withdraw from the EU.
Now a panel of eleven justices – Lord Neuberger, Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson, Lord Sumption, Lord Reed, Lord Carnwath, Lord Hughes and Lord Hodge – will decide whether the government has power to give notice of an intention to withdraw without an Act of Parliament.
Opening the government’s appeal today, the attorney general Jeremy Wright QC said that the High Court had been “wrong”.
He said: “We say the use of the prerogative in these circumstances would not only be lawful but fully supported by our constitutional settlement, in line with parliamentary sovereignty and in accordance with legitimate public expectations.”
He argued that, within the UK’s constitution, it is and always has been for the UK government to exercise the power to contract with other sovereign states, and to conduct the UK’s business on the international stage.
In written arguments before the court, he added: “The government does so in exercise of the prerogative. That is a vital part of the conduct of modern inter-state business.”
However, at the outset, he made clear that the case was brought by the claimants “perfectly properly” and raised a clear question of law of substantial significance.
In opening remarks, the president of the Supreme Court Lord Neuberger said that the justices were fully aware of the public interest and “strong feeling” associated with the wider political questions raised by the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, but that these issues were not the subject of this appeal.
He added that the court’s duty is to decide the question of law raised, and that it will do so impartially in accordance with the law.
Article 50 of sets out the procedure by which a member state that has decided to withdraw from the EU achieves that result. The government intends to give notification under Article 50 and to conduct the subsequent negotiations, in exercise of prerogative powers to conclude and withdraw from international treaties.
The appeal is scheduled to last most of the week, with a decision not anticipated until the new year.
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