The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
No Supreme Court ruling on EU exit until new year
Judges retire to consider verdict after four days of arguments
The UK Government faces a wait until next year to find out whether it has won its historic Brexit challenge at the country’s highest court.
At the completion of four days of detailed legal argument, 11 Supreme Court justices reserved their ruling until the new year.
The Supreme Court’s president Lord Neuberger said: “It bears repeating we are not being asked to overturn the result of the EU referendum.
“The ultimate question in this case concerns the process by which that result can lawfully be brought into effect.
“As we have heard, that question raises important constitutional issues and we will now take time to ensure the many arguments presented to us orally and in writing are given full and proper consideration.”
The UK Parliament can change the laws of Scotland regarding Brexit – but not the UK Government using royal prerogative powers, Scotland’s most senior law officer told the Supreme Court during the last day of the hearing.
Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC argued that an Act of Parliament was required to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to start the two-year process of withdrawing from the EU.
And he said the Scottish Parliament was also entitled to a voice on the issue, which involved the serious loss of EU rights for Scottish people.
The Lord Advocate said that was “a matter of significance and not simply a footnote” and it would be unlawful for the Article 50 process to start without a legislative consent motion from Holyrood under devolved legislation.
He said: “The powers to change the laws of Scotland were given to Parliament, and of course those Parliament has authorised, and not to the Crown.
“That sets the bounds to the use of the prerogative and precludes the UK Government from asserting a power to make significant changes to laws of the land by virtue of the prerogative.”
The hearing follows a High Court decision against the Government in November in a case brought by businesswoman Gina Miller. Three judges ruled Theresa May lacked legal power for the royal prerogative
MPs have now voted in favour of the Government’s timetable to trigger Article 50 by March 31 next year.
In Westminster yesterday, the SNP claimed the battle for Brexit will pit Theresa May’s desire for a “red, white and blue” divorce from the European Union against the “tartan Remain” campaign.
Pete Wishart, the party’s Commons leader, said it would be up to the SNP to challenge the Government over its Brexit plan after he accused Labour of “caving in” to the Prime Minister’s Article 50 timetable.
But Commons Leader David Lidington insisted Mrs May’s Brexit proposal “includes the flag of St Andrew”.
Mr Wishart said: “It’s another week, another instalment of Brexit chaos and now we have it under the banner of a red, white and blue Brexit.
“After the caving in of the Labour Party yesterday, meekly following the Government’s Article 50 agenda, it’s going to be the red, white and blue Brexit versus the tartan Remain.”
Mr Lidington said the Government will seek to represent the entire UK in its negotiations with Brussels.
He said: “We mustn’t forget that even in Scotland 40% of the population did actually vote to leave and I can assure you that the Government is going to be, yes, looking for a Brexit that is red, white and blue but that pattern includes the flag of St Andrew and the Saltire’s interests will be very much in our minds.”