The majority judgement in the Supreme Court regarding triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty did not come as a surprise. It is based on the premise that triggering Article 50 would begin an irreversible process which would lead to the UK leaving the EU. As leaving the EU would have the effect of changing national, domestic law, which only Parliament can do, there is a line of logic in the Supreme Court’s argument.
I have long campaigned for a referendum to be held on our membership of the EU, and in that referendum I campaigned for withdrawal. However, I have no problem with Parliament having to vote to trigger Article 50 on the basis stated by the Supreme Court. The Court’s judgement is not about frustrating the freely expressed wish of the British people – rather, the judgement was about clarifying that Parliament, and not individual Ministers, has the power to change the law, unless such a power is expressly provide to Ministers by another Act of Parliament, which in this case it is not.
I am now calling on the government to introduce a Bill into Parliament which will have the effect of triggering Article 50, and I shall support that Bill. It is important that the government is able to trigger Article 50 before the end of March, as the Prime Minister has stated that she would do that, so I would hope that the relevant Bill will be introduced as quickly as possible – there can be no need or reason for delay.