First minister says Scotland should be formally consulted as triggering article 50 would ‘deprive Scottish people of rights’

Nicola Sturgeon has announced that the Scottish government will move to formally join the next legal battle over MPs’ right to vote on article 50 after the British government’s defeat in the high court last week.

The Brexit case will be heard at the supreme court over the course of four days between 5 and 8 December. The Welsh government has already declared its intention to intervene in the case.



All 11 justices on the court will sit on the panel hearing the case – an unprecedented number. The panel will be chaired by the supreme court president, David Neuberger. Permission to appeal has been formally granted to the Westminster government.

The four-day hearing will be broadcast live by the court. Judgment will be reserved. It is expected to be published in January. Appeals by Northern Ireland groups, arguing that parliament and the assembly in Stormont should ratify the triggering of Brexit, may also be joined to the supreme court case.



Sturgeon confirmed that Scotland’s lord advocate would lodge a formal application to intervene in the UK government’s supreme court appeal against last Thursday’s unexpected high court ruling, which stated that MPs needed to vote on triggering article 50 to begin the process of leaving the EU.

Brexit plans in disarray as high court rules parliament must have its say Read more

At a regular press briefing at Bute House, in Edinburgh, the first minister said Holyrood should also be formally consulted on the decision, and accused Theresa May’s government of “seeking to bypass the Scottish parliament and take steps that will involve fundamental changes to the devolution settlement with no proper scrutiny here in Scotland”.

This would mean Holyrood voting on a legislative consent motion, under the parliamentary convention which requires that Holyrood agree to any changes in its powers and responsibilities. This does not amount to Holyrood having a veto on triggering article 50.

Sturgeon said that, regardless of the legal outcome, politically she believed there should be a legislative consent motion before Holyrood. “It strikes right at the heart of the devolution settlement. I believe as a matter of politics, of fairness and respect to the devolution settlement, it is inconceivable that the UK government would try to ignore the opinion of the Scottish government.

“It would be disrespecting the whole devolution settlement and the place that that convention has always had in the devolution settlement for a decision of this magnitude and with this degree of impact on our devolved responsibilities to be taken without the Scottish parliament being consulted.”

She said she believed members of both the Welsh and Northern Irish governments would take similar views of their own parliaments.

“The Scottish government is clear that triggering article 50 will directly affect devolved interests and rights in Scotland,” she said. “And triggering article 50 will inevitably deprive Scottish people and Scottish businesses of rights and freedoms which they currently enjoy.



“It simply cannot be right that those rights can be removed by the UK government on the say-so of a prime minister without parliamentary debate, scrutiny or consent. So legislation should be required at Westminster and the consent of the Scottish parliament should be sought before article 50 is triggered.”

The SNP leader said the lord advocate – Scotland’s most senior law officer – would lodge the application as soon as the UK government lodged its own appeal. Having been granted leave to intervene, she said, the lord advocate would then set out the relevant legal arguments. The Scottish government had legal counsel attending the previous article 50 hearing throughout as an observer.

Sturgeon said the intervention was “not an attempt to frustrate the will of the people of England and Wales. But it is part of our overall attempt to protect the will of the Scottish people. My priority is to seek to protect Scotland’s interests and part of that is to protect the voice of the Scottish parliament.”

She added: “Let me be clear: I recognise and respect the right of England and Wales to leave the European Union. But the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland and the national parliament of Scotland cannot be brushed aside as if they do not matter.



“The prime minister said that on 23 June people across the UK had voted with, in her words, ‘emphatic clarity’ when they voted by a margin of four points to leave the EU. The margin for remain in Scotland was 24 points: a far more emphatic and clear result.

“So the prime minister needs to live up to her promise to treat Scotland as an equal partner in the United Kingdom and listen to the will of the people of Scotland.”

Asked about the shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer’s Guardian article on Monday in which he said Labour MPs would not vote to block article 50 in the Commons, Sturgeon said she remained hopeful that there was potential to build a coalition in Westminster against a hard Brexit.

She said: “In fairness to him, to everybody, we don’t yet know what the precise terms of a vote on article 50 would look like. Would it be a straightforward vote on triggering it or would there be more substance associated with that?”

She said Starmer’s comments on the need for “special arrangements” for devolved administrations were encouraging. “I don’t believe there is a majority either in the country or the House of Commons for a hard Brexit,” she said.