The High Court has announced that the decision to leave the European Union or not will now go down to a decision from parliament, throwing the Brexit camp into disarray.
This means that the government can not trigger the much talked about Article 50, which would begin negotiations to leave, without the say so of MP’s and peers from across the country.
Prime Minister Theresa May initially wanted to implement Article 50 next March to begin the process, but this timeline has now been thrown into heavy doubt.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said, “The people are the ones Parliament represents – 17.4m of them, the biggest mandate in history, voted for us to leave the European Union. We are going to deliver on that mandate in the best way possible for the British national interest.”
The government are looking to appeal against the High Court’s decision, but if they don’t they could face months and months of setbacks.
The passing of Article 50 was argued to effect the general population’s rights, which the UK government can not to without first addressing parliament.
It will be a huge task to get all peers involved in a parliamentary decision to decide on one way or the other, so some are even suggesting Brexit plans could fall through all together, at least how they currently exist.