The UK QB ruled unanimously (3-0) this fine English morning that the Tory gov’t cannot use the Crown’s prerogative to initiate the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The decision to withdraw or not – the decision whether to give notice under the applicable EU treaty – is for Parliament to make, not the party in power in Parliament; aka the “gov’t” or the Crown.
[111] for the reasons we have set out, we hold the Secretary of State does not have power under the Crown’s prerogative to give notice pursuant to Article 50 of the TEU for the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union.
R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union 2016 EWHC 2768 (Admin)
see http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2016/2768.pdf
A spokesperson from the Crown – or UK gov’t – or the Tory party, pick your poison, announced, as one might expect, that the decision will be appealed.
A speaker, yesterday, at a lecture I attended, used the line Henry 2 v Henry 8 line to describe the possible results, saying that, of course, the decision wouldn’t be put quite that way. Under that description, the score is now H8 2, H2 1 at the end of the 2nd period. As much as I’d love to be able to claim it, it’s not my concoction.
In a “I’m not sure how it’s related but he’ll eventually grope towards an explanation development”, Donald Trump’s campaign spokestwitter has twittted that the Donald, hisself, blames “this tragic interference by unelected, wig wearing, black dress wearing elites with the will of the true representatives of the pure wool people in the United Kingdom on ‘Crooked Hillary’" and that he and Vladamir Putin remain ready, willing, and able to assist the British people in the protection of their "precious bodily fluids".
In the audio version of the twit, it's possible to hear what sounds like goats an and sheep in the background.
In Scotland, substitute "water of life" for precious bodily fluids, even if it's (shudder) Laphroiag.
