By judgment of 24 January 2017, the Supreme Court has dismissed the government’s appeal against the Divisional Court’s judgment in R (on the application of Miller & Dos Santos) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. The court has held that parliamentary authority in the form of an Act of Parliament is required for the government to serve notice, under Article 50(2) of the Treaty on the European Union, of the UK’s intention to begin its withdrawal from the EU. In spite of the defeat, the government remains committed to serving the notice by the end of March. This was the first time since the Supreme Court was formed in 2009 that a hearing has involved all 11 justices and the majority of them emphatically rejected the government’s case, although three out of the 11 judges did find in its favour.
