Brexit challenge

The Lord Chief Justice will preside over the legal challenge to the Brexit process in October, the High Court has ruled.

President of the Queen’s Bench Division, Sir Brian Leveson, said the case raises matters of constitutional and national importance.

He said that any appeal from the court’s decision would go to the Supreme Court.

Those representing the government told the court that the Prime Minister, Theresa May, had made it clear that Art 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the formal procedure for withdraw from the EU, would not be triggered before the end of the year.

The applicants assert that it would be unlawful for Art 50 to be invoked without parliamentary approval. The government, however, is expected to argue that it can be done by the Prime Minister under prerogative powers.