Brexit: Nicola Sturgeon bids to block Government's appeal against High Court ruling

Francesca Gillett8 November 2016

Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon is set to try and block the UK Government’s appeal against the judges’ High Court ruling on Article 50.

Theresa May is seeking to overturn last week’s legal ruling by three senior judges which made clear MPs must vote on the formal triggering of Brexit.

But the Scottish first minister has announced she is to go to the Supreme Court in an attempt to see off the government's appeal and uphold the High Court decision.

The Lord Advocate, Scotland's most senior law officer, is to lodge a formal application at the Supreme Court to intervene in the case.

Ms Sturgeon said it "simply cannot be right" that rights linked to membership of the European Union "can be removed by the UK Government on the say-so of a Prime Minister without parliamentary debate, scrutiny or consent".

Demands: Scotland says it will ask the Supreme Court to block Theresa May from triggering European Union exit talks without consulting the Scottish Parliament first.
AP

The First Minister added: "So legislation should be required at Westminster and the consent of the Scottish Parliament should be sought before Article 50 is triggered."

Three senior High Court judges last week ruled PM Theresa May does not have the power to trigger Article 50 to start the two-year process of negotiating Brexit without the prior authority of the UK Parliament.

The Scottish Government's intention to intervene in the case comes after the vote for Brexit put the union between Scotland and the rest of the UK under increasing pressure, with the SNP leader having already warned a second referendum on Scottish independence is now "highly likely".

On Tuesday, the First Minister said: "Let me be clear - I recognise and respect the right of England and Wales to leave the European Union. This is not an attempt to veto that process.

"But the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland and the national Parliament of Scotland cannot be brushed aside as if they do not matter."

While a majority of UK voters backed Brexit in June's referendum, almost two-thirds (62 per cent) of Scots voted to Remain.

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