Brexit or Bust?

The Telegraph wrote:When is the Supreme Court judgment on Article 50 and will it derail Brexit?
Telegraph Reporters
2 DECEMBER 2016 • 5:06PM

The Supreme Court Judges are unlikely to rule on the Article 50 case before Christmas.

They will hear four days of evidence from the 5 - 8 December and then retire to make a decision about what happens next.

In an unusual move all of the 11 Judges will sit on the case, in a sign of how important the decision is to the country.

A formal ruling on the case is likely to come in early January, and while the court typically announces decisions on a Wednesday this may not be the case for this appeal but it depends on how long it takes to reach a decision.

The court is unlikely to rule on a Friday.

The judgement will be broadcast live and the President of the Court, Lord Neuberger, will speak for about six minutes to explain the reasoning behind it.

There have been some concerns that the decision might delay Brexit. This is because if the court rules that Theresa May must seek the permission of Parliament before she triggers Brexit the Government will be forced to take a bill through the House.

The bill is likely to be short and worded in such a way that reduces the chance of it being amended and therefore delayed by MPs in the House of Commons who do not want the country to leave the EU.

Although most MPs have said they will back the bill, some have warned that they will use debates in the House to try and elicit more information from the Prime Minister about what Brexit might look like.

Some emergency legislation can be forced through the Commons in weeks, but this bill will not meet those criteria.

Instead sources close to the Government suggest it could take months to win support, which could throw the Prime Minister's March 2017 timetable off track.