Will UK still Brexit? Court ruling stalls trigger of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty

Today, the High Court has ruled that Parliament must vote on whether the UK can start the process of leaving the EU. Apparently, we cannot Brexit without triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. This ruling is insisting that the government cannot trigger  this process on its own.

Theresa May says the referendum – and existing ministerial powers – mean MPs do not need to vote, but Bremain campaigners called this unconstitutional.

The government is appealing, with a further hearing expected next month. And this should amuse you: it would seem that they are appealing to the European Court! The increasingly farcical situation that the UK has found itself is beautifully captured by John “Two Jags” Prescott:

Leavers: 'Give us parliamentary sovereignty!'
High Court: 'MPs must vote on Article 50
Leavers: 'We'll appeal to European Court of Justice!'

— John Prescott (@johnprescott) November 3, 2016

Prime Minister Theresa May insists that she will not let this parliamentary ping-pong delay or “derail Article 50 or the timetable we have set out. We are determined to continue with our plan”. We’re not sure exactly how she plans to ride roughshod over a ruling, but this is Great Britain. Anything can happen.

Lily-livered, yellow-bellied UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he feared a “betrayal” of the 51.9% of voters who backed leaving the EU in June’s referendum and voiced concern at the prospect of a “half Brexit”. The more important question is: is anyone still listening to this PAID MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT after he led faintly bigoted and certainly deluded Brexiters to a decision and then bailed?  Not for me to call him a scoundrel and a comprehensive idiot, but surely the people who once agreed with him must now see that there are barrels of fart made of less hot air than Nigel Farage?

After all said and done, the drama continues. I have said and still maintain that Britain cannot Brexit in the total way that was proposed in the referendum – if she can at all.

This is not Ghana Must Go. This is not like leaving a lover after a summer’s fling. The finances, legalities, PEOPLE, human lives, marriages and migration involved is too complex to be anything as straightforward as “Keeping Britain British” – whatever that means in a world where Spaniards are married to English men who have stepmothers who are part Belgian and part German. And who all work on this fair isle.