Parliament must vote before UK can trigger Brexit, top court rules

British Prime Minister Theresa May must give parliament a vote before she can formally start Britain's exit from the European Union, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled on Jan. 23, giving lawmakers who oppose her Brexit plans a shot at amending them. 

By a majority of eight to three, the U.K.'s highest judicial body decided May could not use executive powers known as "royal prerogative" to invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty and so begin two years of divorce talks. 

"The referendum is of great political significance, but the Act of Parliament which established it did not say what should happen as a result," said David Neuberger, President of the Supreme Court. 

"So any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the U.K. constitution, namely by an Act of Parliament." 

However, the judges did remove one major potential obstacle for the British government, saying May did not need the approval of the U.K.'s devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before triggering Brexit. 

May has said she intends to invoke Article 50 before the end of March but the ruling means she must now first bring forward urgent legislation before she can go ahead. 

Meanwhile, Malta's Deputy Prime Minister and EU minister, Louis Grech, told Reuters on Jan. 23 that Britain told EU peers it would stick to an end-March deadline to trigger its exit clause from the bloc.

A spokesperson for May said Jan. 23 hours after court ruling that Britain still intended to start talks on leaving the European Union by the end of March. 

"The British people voted to leave the EU, and the government will deliver on their verdict -- triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end...