The Brexit secretary told the House of Commons that the supreme court would hear the government’s appeal against last week’s high court decision early next month; but a judgment might not come until the new year.
Asked by Labour’s Angela Smith MP whether it could be January before a judgment is handed down, Davis said: “Yes, she is right in one respect, that it may come as late as early January. The expectation is that the case will be heard in the early part of December, and it will take two or three weeks I expect to get the judgment written up. But I think it is the proper role of government to wait and respect the judgment we get from the supreme court, full stop.”
A January ruling would leave a tight timetable for the government to win a parliamentary vote – particularly if, as Davis had previously suggested, it means passing a bill through both houses.
In a robust statement that was delivered in the Commons, in response to last week’s judgment, Davis insisted Theresa May would stick to her timetable of invoking article 50 before the end of March.
He also reiterated that the government was determined not to allow its hands to be tied by revealing too much about its negotiating strategy to MPs.
“Parliamentary scrutiny, yes; telling the prime minister which cards to play, seeking to force her to disclose her hand to those she will be negotiating with, no,” Davis said.
He accused politicians including Nick Clegg and Owen Smith, who have said they will seek to amend any legislation triggering article 50, of trying to scupper Brexit, saying: “The whole approach is designed to wreck the negotiations.”
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