British PM Theresa May faces potential MP revolt following Brexit court ruling

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British Prime Minister Theresa May, pictured at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels on October 21, faces the prospect of a revolt from pro-EU Tories who want her to outline her Brexit strategy in a clearer fashion. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:12am, 4 Nov 2016Updated: 9:49pm, 4 Nov 2016

UK Prime Minister Theresa May is heading for a rebellion over her Brexit strategy, after this week’s bombshell high court ruling that the UK cannot leave the European union without the permission of the British parliament.

Thursday’s decision, that the government could not press ahead with triggering article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, the formal process for beginning Brexit, without first consulting MPs and peers in the Commons and Lords, represents a dramatic setback for the prime minister. May had argued that she had the personal authority to begin the process without a parliamentary vote on the issue.

Parliamentarians are unlikely to block Brexit outright, given that 52 per cent of voters among the public opted, on 23 June, to leave the EU, but the need for legislation gives MPs the opportunity to disrupt the process by demanding May reveal more details about her plan for negotiating the terms of departure.

Sources said that a cross-party group of Tory and Labour MPs met on Thursday afternoon to discuss how the ruling could be used to force May to reveal more about her broad negotiating aims.

People hold placards during a demonstration urging US citizens to vote in the upcoming US Presidential election in Parliament Square, London, likening the possible outcome to the unexpected result of the Brexit referendum. Photo: EPA

Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said he now believed it was “inevitable the prime minister will have to answer the big questions” on whether she wanted the UK to be in the single market or the customs union, as there appeared to be a majority of MPs demanding greater transparency.