British PM May moves to reassure EU over
court decision on Brexit
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[November 04, 2016]
By Elizabeth Piper
LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa
May will tell European Union officials on Friday that a court ruling
requiring a parliamentary vote will not derail her timetable for Britain
to leave the bloc.
May's aides say she will appeal the decision by the High Court, which
said that the government must get parliamentary approval to trigger
Article 50, the formal divorce announcement. They also say she will
stick to her timetable to do it by the end of March.
Parliament is unlikely to defy the referendum vote by blocking Brexit,
but if - as one aide said was the logical conclusion of the High Court
ruling - she is forced to draft legislation for both houses to consider,
her March deadline looks tight, several lawmakers said.
That could force her to call an early election, they said, a move her
spokeswoman rejected on Thursday, saying 2020 was still the focus.
Bookmakers odds on an election next year were cut after the court
decision but 2020 was still the favorite date.
"The government is focused on how do we deliver what the British people
decided and how do we do that in the way that gets the best deal for
Britain," May's spokeswoman said on Thursday.
"We've been very clear in our position that we don't agree with the
court's view and that's why we are appealing it."
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The court ruling has spurred hope among investors and pro-EU lawmakers
that parliament will now be able to put pressure on May's government -
which has three high profile eurosceptic ministers in key roles - to
soften any plans for a "hard Brexit", or a clean break with the EU's
lucrative single market.
But it has enraged pro-Brexit campaigners and Britain's eurosceptic
newspapers, with the Daily Mail calling the three judges who handed down
the ruling "Enemies of the people" and the best-selling Sun newspaper
asking: "Who do EU think you are? Loaded foreign elite defy will of Brit
voters."
PASSIONS
The ruling is likely to stir passions in Britain just over four months
after 52 percent of voters supported leaving the EU at a referendum
which deepened splits in the country and gave voice to resentment -
mirrored across Western Europe and the United States - with a ruling
elite seen as out of touch.
Some lawmakers who had backed staying in the bloc were criticized on
social media, accused of trying to stop Brexit.
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![](../images/110416pics/news_p31.jpg)
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and Colombia's President Juan
Manuel Santos (not shown) speak to journalists after their bilateral
meeting at 10 Downing Street in London, November 2, 2016.
REUTERS/Kirsty Wigglesworth/pool
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"Tolerance must win over hate and scaremongering. I'm not alone in
standing up for the 48 percent who also have the right to be heard
and listened to," said Anna Soubry, a pro-EU lawmaker from May's
ruling Conservative Party.
May had wanted to move on Brexit as quickly as possible - keen to
show that although she campaigned quietly for Britain to remain in
the EU she would listen to the "will of the people".
And there was clear frustration among her aides that the court had
put a question mark over a schedule May has been outlining to EU
leaders for weeks after some, especially French President Francois
Hollande, called for Britain to move quickly.
May, a former interior minister described as "intractable" by a
former government official, has repeatedly said she does not want to
give her hand away before launching some of the most complicated
talks Britain has waged since World War Two.
Some lawmakers said if she failed to overturn the decision in the
Supreme Court in December, they will demand that May must disclose
more of her negotiating stance before triggering Article 50.
"Given the strict two year timetable of exiting the EU once Article
50 is triggered, it is critical that the government now lay out
their negotiating (stance) to parliament before such a vote is
held," said Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/04/images/ads/current/ldn_business_directory_small_2016.png)
"So far May's team have been all over the place when it comes to
prioritizing what is best for Britain, and it's time they pull their
socks up and start taking this seriously," he said in a statement.
(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
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