Brexit legal challenge: 'A six year old child could see flaws in Government's Brexit plans', Supreme Court told
Fourth and final day of the Supreme Court Brexit legal challenge has been heard and the judges have now retired to consider their decision
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Your support makes all the difference.The Government's Brexit plans are so flawed "even a six year old child could see it", the Supreme Court has been told.
The claims were made by Richard Gordon QC, Law Officer of the Welsh Government, who told the court Welsh politicians should be allowed to approve plans to trigger Article 50.
The Supreme Court was hearing final arguments in the Brexit legal challenge as the case entered its fourth and final day.
Opponents to the Government's Brexit plans outlined their case; with representatives of Wales, Scotland, ex-pats and children's rights putting their case to judges.
The Government's lawyers then had their final opportunity to refute the claims and make their case that Theresa May has sufficient authority to trigger Article 50 without a vote from MPs. The argued the 2015 Referendum Act which outlined the terms of the EU referendum did not specify who could trigger Article 50.
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All 11 of the Supreme Court justices, who are the most senior judges in the UK, heard the case and have now retired to reach their decision.
A judgment is expected to be announced 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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