May apparently has a clever tactic to trigger Article 50 - even if she loses the Brexit Supreme Court appeal
According to the Financial Times, May is putting together a short bill that allows her to trigger Article 50 in the event of the government losing an appeal against an earlier London High Court ruling that Parliament must approve the triggering of Article 50. The appeal will be taken to London's Supreme Court.
Cleverly, May is going to make the bill as short as one paragraph, therefore making it extremely difficult for MPs to change "because amendments must be ruled to be within the scope of the original text," the FT says. However, the bill could still fail if enough MPs oppose.
A government spokesperson told the FT that the idea of May preparing this short bill is "complete speculation" and says Downing Street is instead focusing on the Supreme Court case.
The initial High Court case challenging the Prime Minister's right to trigger Article 50 was brought by a number of claimants, including a group known as "The People's Challenge to Article 50." The lead claimant was Gina Miller and "The People's Challenge" was a loose band of people who crowdfunded £175,000 to challenge the Brexit process in court.
At the beginning of November, London's High Court gave a clear and legal way for parliament to block May from triggering Article 50, thereby delaying the start of the two-year negotiation process for a Brexit.
As it stands, May must get parliamentary approval before invoking Article 50. The government confirmed that it will be appealing the decision, which means the case will be transferred to the Supreme Court in December this year. It will be the first time the Supreme Court sits in full since its establishment in 2009.
Within 24 hours of the High Court announcement, a crowdfunding campaign hit its £75,000 ($93,524) target to pay for the legal defense in the Supreme Court case.