Government advisers believe there will be a split decision over the Supreme Court’s Article 50 ruling, with judges voting 7 to 4 in favour of giving a Parliament a veto on when Britain leaves the European Union, The Telegraph can disclose.<\/p>\n
The news is a boost for the Brexit side, as some had feared before the case this week that the Government could lose the appeal by a majority of 10 to one.<\/p>\n
A narrow win will make it harder for pro-European Union MPs and peers to frustrate the progress of a new law to trigger the start of Britain\u2019s talks to leave the EU by the end of March.<\/p>\n
Legal commentators and experts had believed the court comprised overwhelmingly pro-Remain judges, some expecting the pro-EU side would win by a margin of 10 to one.<\/p>\n
However, government lawyers now believe the margin in favour of Remain is actually much narrower.<\/p>\n
One source said: \u201cIt is difficult to predict how the case is going to go but the thinking of those in the room is that there might be a sizeable minority who are with the Government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe understanding is that it is unlikely to be a slam dunk either way; even if a majority agree with Gina Miller there will be a sizeable majority who don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
The source added: \u201cThe feeling among those in the room was the division among the judges was much more pronounced than perhaps it appeared at first thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
A narrow win for the Remain side will still mean that the Government will have to pass a law formally triggering Article 50 by the end of March.<\/p>\n
But the small margin of the victory will mean that is harder for the SNP and Liberal Democrats to amend any legislation and attempt to delay it.<\/p>\n
By: Christopher Hope, chief political correspondent<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0Telegraph.co.UK<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"