Brexit legal challenge live: British citizens will lose rights through EU withdrawal, Supreme Court told
A third day of arguments has been made in the Brexit Supreme Court appeal
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Your support makes all the difference.Gina Miller's legal representative has outlining the case against the Government in day three of the four day Supreme Court appeal on Brexit.
Lord Pannick QC represented Ms Miller and told the court Theresa May does not have sufficient authority to trigger Article 50 and instead the case must go to MPs.
Representing fello claimant Deir Dos Santos, a hairdresser born in Brazil, QC Dominic Chambers told the court only parliament has the power to take away British citizens' rights, which EU withdrawal would inevitably do.
The court was also told both Scotland and Northern Ireland must approve triggering Article 50 before the Government does so. A majority of people in Scotland (62 per cent) and Northern Ireland (56 per cent) voted to Remain.
The day before, while the court was sitting, Ms May announced during a visit to the Gulf that she will reveal her Brexit plans before triggering Article 50, in what appears to be a signifcant U-turn on her previous position.
Catch up on everything that happened in court today:
The Prime Minister has previously said she plans to trigger Article 50 by the end of this Spring.
If MPs are entitled to vote on Article 50, it could delay Brexit considerably or ensure it is a 'soft Brexit' rather than a 'hard Brexit' as politicians could insist protectionist clauses are inserted before EU withdrawal.
The Supreme Court case is expected to last four days.
A judgment is anticipated for early in the new year.
In my opinion, the most compelling argument the Govt is making is that it would 'lose foreign policy controls' if High Court ruling upheld
By making foreign relations almost impossible, as parliament would need to vote on international activities very often
Yet, while that is a politically compelling argument, the judges will solely be considering the legality of it, which is less certain
By insisting Northern Ireland & Scotland have little say in this, the govt risks bringing long term damage to relationships in devolution
In order to win, the govt needs to argue Theresa May can do whatever she wants, but this risks fuelling desire for independence regionally
So it's a case of short term gain while risking long term harm and potential instability to the union
Tomorrow, we'll be hearing arguments against the government from various lawyers in the case between 10:30am and 4pm, arguing MPs must vote
Which the government's lawyers will then have the opportunity to address on Thursday, before the case closes
So the Government's lawyers could still put forward a convincing case, but in my opinion it's not happened yet
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