Government, press raise the stakes as article 50 appeal begins
Government and media sources have been attempting to influence the appeal to the UK Supreme Court against the High Court ruling that Parliament must approve the article 50 notice to withdraw from the European Union, as the appeal hearing begins today.
Saturday's Daily Mail published what purported to be an analysis of the European links of the 11 Justices who will hear the case, and today's Daily Telegraph leads with the headline "Don't defy the people, judges told".
The Attorney General, who will open the Government's appeal, issued a further statement that it would frustrate the will of the people as expressed in the referendum result to rule that Parliament must approve the formal notice under article 50. However supporters of the High Court ruling argue that given the fundamental change to the law and to individual rights that withdrawal from the EU would bring about, it is not within executive powers for the Government to act alone.
Before the hearing began, the President, Lord Neuberger, declared in court that, at the direction of the court, the registrar had asked all the parties involved in the proceedings whether they wished to ask any of the Justices to stand down. "Without exception, all parties to the appeal have stated that they have no objection to any of us sitting on this appeal", he stated.
With huge media and public attention having been given to the case, the President added that he wished to take the opportunity "to remind everyone who has taken an interest in these proceedings that the Supreme Court exists to decide points of law which fall within its jurisdiction".
He continued that the Justices were of course aware of the public interest in the case, and of the strong feelings associated with the wider political questions surrounding the UK's departure from the European Union. "However, as will be apparent from the arguments before us, those wider political questions are not the subject of this appeal. This appeal is concerned with legal issues, and, as judges, our duty is to consider those issues impartially, and to decide the case according to the law. That is what we shall do."
The progress of the appeal at the Supreme Court can be followed via this page: