This article is from the source 'independent' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/article-50-brexit-eu-referendum-urgent-question-house-of-commons-leave-europe-a7130851.html
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Article 50: House of Commons to debate urgent question on legal process for leaving EU | Article 50: House of Commons to debate urgent question on legal process for leaving EU |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The House of Commons is set to debate an urgent question about how the UK will begin the process of leaving the European Union. | |
| The question, which will be put forward by Labour MP Helen Goodman at 3.30pm, comes after Andrea Leadsom dropped out of the Conservative leadership race, clearing the way for Theresa May to be named Britian’s next Prime Minister. | |
| Government Minister Oliver Letwin told the Foreign Affairs Committee last week that Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which formally begins the process under which a state leaves the EU, could be triggered using the royal prerogative, a power now exercised by the Prime Minister. | |
| Ms Goodman told The Independent that this meant the descision could be taken "without parliamentary approval". | |
| “The Vote Leave campaign promised to take back control and restore parliamentary sovereignty and the first thing that has to be done to negotiate Brexit is to trigger Article 50 and the Government seems to be proposing to do this using the royal prerogative," she said. | |
| “I think it’s quite wrong when the public was promised this was about restoring parliamentary sovereignty." | |
| If an urgent or important matter arises which an MP believes requires an immediate answer from a government minister, they may apply to ask an urgent question. | |
| More than 1,000 lawyers have signed a letter addressed to Prime Minister David Cameron saying the EU referendum result is merely “advisory” and not legally binding. | |
| Arguing the vote for Brexit, which was opposed by world leaders such as Barack Obama and Christine Lagarde of the International Monetary Fund, is far from guaranteed, the group advised the Government to carefully consider whether to follow through with the British public's vote to leave the European Union. | |
| Before Article 50 can be triggered, they say primary legislation will need to be enacted. | |
| Leading constitutional lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC told The Independent: “I think Britain would be a laughing stock if this outmoded mechanism [the Royal Prerogative] were used by the Government to usurp the role of parliament in a democracy – a role that many Parliamentarians fought and died for in the civil wars of the 1640s. | |
| “It’s a preposterous and undemocratic suggestion that the Prime Minister has the power to alter the fundamental basis of the British constitution without the support of MPs. | “It’s a preposterous and undemocratic suggestion that the Prime Minister has the power to alter the fundamental basis of the British constitution without the support of MPs. |
| “It would surely be judicially reviewed because the so-called Royal Prerogative powers have been reviewable [by the courts] since the attempt to use it to block a case about GCHQ was defeated in 1984. | “It would surely be judicially reviewed because the so-called Royal Prerogative powers have been reviewable [by the courts] since the attempt to use it to block a case about GCHQ was defeated in 1984. |
| “The simple fact is we remain in the European Union until Parliament repeals that act which took us into it, namely the 1972 European Communities Act.” | “The simple fact is we remain in the European Union until Parliament repeals that act which took us into it, namely the 1972 European Communities Act.” |