The British Parliament must vote on whether or not the government can start the process of leaving the European Union, the country’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
Judges said the legal consequences of leaving the EU were substantial enough to require parliamentary approval despite the public voting in favor of Brexit last June. The 8-3 decision upholds a November ruling in the High Court.
“To proceed otherwise would be breach of settled constitutional principles stretching back many centuries,” Supreme Court President Lord David Neuberger said.
Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to start the process before March 31 and parliamentary vote is expected before then. May proposed a clean breakup from the EU when she announced her plan last Tuesday. (RELATED: British PM Outlines Final Brexit Terms For Parliamentary Vote)
“Let me be clear, what I am proposing cannot mean remaining in the single market,” May said. “Not partial membership of the European Union, associate membership of the European Union, or anything that leaves us half in, half out.”
A spokesman for May said the government’s objectives remain the same after the court ruling.
“The prime minister speech [last week] very clearly set out the government’s objectives,” the spokesman said, according to The Guardian.
The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland won’t get a chance to intervene.
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