In Sunday’s round-up, we noted that the Inner House of the Court of Session had refused the Government leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against its decision in Wightman, Reclaiming Motion by Andy Wightman MSP and Others Against Secretary of State for Exiting The European Union [2018] ScotCS CSIH 62 to refer to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling the question as to “whether, when and how the notification [under Article 50]…can unilaterally be revoked”. 

In a written statement of reasons published by Scottish Legal News, the Lord President said that, in view of the fact that the delay caused by an appeal to the UKSC would probably make it impossible for the CJEU to answer the question in the reference in advance of the prospective parliamentary vote: “Permission would, in short, render the reference, and indeed the petition, academic. For this reason, permission to appeal must be refused.”

Since then, things have moved on. Continue reading →