020 7898 0500The Supreme Court has ruled that parliament must vote on whether the government can start the Brexit process. This came as no real surprise to the market, as Prime Minister Theresa May had already acknowledged last week that Parliament would have the opportunity to vote on the draft bill. What this means is that the government cannot begin talks with the European Union until MPs have agreed on the terms of engagement.
Because this was already known to a large degree, the main focus of the market was on whether the Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies would have a say on the process. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that they would not get a vote on the process.
Meanwhile, lost in the mix was the public sector borrowing numbers, which wasn’t a great surprise given the ground breaking news from the Supreme Court. In the end the number came in under forecast, which will help the Chancellor, Phillip Hammond to keep to the Autumn Statement target.
