British court to rule on Brexit challenge

LONDON

The High Court will decide on Thursday whether the British government has the right to trigger the process for leaving the EU without the prior authorisation of parliament, in a ruling that could delay Brexit.

The verdict by three senior judges will be closely watched around Europe and by the financial markets as it could derail Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans and affect her negotiating strategy.

Following the June referendum vote for Britain to leave the European Union, May has promised to start formal exit talks by the end of March.

She claims she has the right to use “historic prerogative powers” — a type of executive privilege — to trigger notification of Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which would spark two years of negotiations on Britain’s departure from the bloc. The government is allowing parliament to scrutinise the process and a vote on the final deal is likely.

But those behind the legal challenge — including an investment fund manager, a hairdresser and an expatriate living in France — argue that Article 50 cannot be triggered without a decision by parliament.

They claim leaving the EU without such a move would remove statutory rights enshrined under the European Communities Act 1972, which made EU law part of UK law.

Ms May has accused those supporting the challenge of trying to frustrate the Brexit process, saying: “They’re trying to kill it by delaying it.”

The judges will deliver their verdict in London at 10:00am (1000 GMT), the court announced Wednesday.

The three judges deciding on the case are Lord Chief Justice John Thomas, the head of the English judiciary and president of the courts; Master of the Rolls Terence Etherton, the second most senior judge; and Philip Sales, an appeal court judge.

On Friday, Northern Ireland’s High Court rejected a legal challenge to Brexit, the first judicial ruling on the issue in the UK.

Meanwhile, Brexit negotiations between Britain and the EU could turn “vicious”, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny warned Wednesday during a meeting with politicians and business leaders to discuss the divorce.

ECONOMIC CHALLENGE

Mr Kenny said Britain’s decision to leave the EU was the “most significant economic and social challenge of the past 50 years” for Ireland but that “Europe risks losing the plot” over what deal to offer Britain, adding that talks threatened to become “quite vicious”.

Kenny said Ireland was the EU state with most to fear from Brexit and that it was already suffering despite the British government not yet triggering the formal separation process, citing the economic effects of the near 20 percent drop in the value of sterling.

“I am very conscious that for some sectors, Brexit is not a distant prospect but a present reality as the sterling depreciation creates many challenges for Irish exporters,” he said.

Opposition Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams also warned that the Northern Ireland peace process was “under very serious threat” due to the potential upheaval to cultural and social relations arising from a loss of EU funding and a return to a “hard” border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

“There is also very real concern in the North, where the prospect of inflation and an increase in the cost of living is likely,” he said.

“Jobs are at risk, investment is under threat and our agricultural community faces systemic complications. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Political parties from across the entire island of Ireland were invited the forum, with around 300 politicians attending.

However, the two main pro-British Unionist parties in Northern Ireland both boycotted the event.

The challenge rested on assumptions spiralling from the Good Friday Agreement peace accords that Northern Ireland’s constitutional arrangements could only be changed with the consent of its residents.