SNP aims to block Brexit with new challenge in court

SNP ministers are preparing to demand that the courts give the Scottish parliament the power to block Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.

Nicola Sturgeon is expected to announce within days that she is stepping up the Scottish Government’s legal bid to secure the power to prevent Theresa May from triggering ‘Article 50’, which would start the two-year process of Britain’s exit from the EU.

Yesterday, her Brexit Minister Michael Russell gave the strongest signal yet that the SNP will go through the courts to demand that MSPs get a vote on the matter.

It comes just days after the Supreme Court ruled that MPs should be polled on triggering Article 50.

Mr Russell also said he cannot imagine any circumstances where Nationalist MPs would vote for Article 50 being triggered – and that SNP politicians would work with Labour members at Westminster and Holyrood to try to stop Brexit going ahead.

But opponents accused the SNP of being more interested in trying to ‘sabotage’ the UK Government than securing a good Brexit deal – and urged Nationalists to accept the result of the EU referendum.

Gina Miller, who led the legal case for the need for an Act of Parliament before Theresa May starts Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, said yesterday that she is ‘expecting a number of governments to join us’.

She said: ‘But their case will be different to ours. They will be talking about their own particular interests.’ Miss Sturgeon said last week that she would ‘actively consider’ becoming involved.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland programme yesterday, Mr Russell said: ‘We have to consider the benefits of making sure the Scottish Government is involved in this case. I did think it was significant that Gina Miller, the plaintiff, indicated that that would be helpful. But we need to look at it in the round, so it will be a few days yet before we say precisely what we can do.’

Mr Russell said the need for the Scottish parliament to vote on a ‘legislative consent motion’ – which allows Westminster to pass laws impacting on devolved parts of the United Kingdom – had ‘never been more clear’.

The Welsh Government has already announced that it will apply to have a voice in the Article 50 appeal case, due to be heard early next month.

Mr Russell said: ‘We are very aware of the position of the Welsh Government, we are very aware of the position Gina Miller has taken, we’re very aware of the way the case has gone and, clearly, it is vitally important that parliament scrutinises the decisions of the executive.

‘Things have moved on very greatly in these last 20 years and there are now a number of parliaments in the UK.

‘They can’t just be set to one side, and Theresa May’s intention just to bulldoze ahead with a plan which she doesn’t appear to have is very foolish indeed.’

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: ‘Labour and the SNP should spend less time hatching a plan to sabotage the Government, and more time working with ministers to ensure we get the best deal possible.’