UK Supreme Court says will consider government appeal in Brexit reversal case

LONDON: Britain’s Supreme Court said on Friday it would consider whether to hear an appeal from the British government which wants to stop Europe’s top court from examining a case seeking to determine whether the country can unilaterally reverse Brexit.

Scotland’s Court of Session ruled last week that the government could not prevent the European Court of Justice hearing the case on Nov. 27.

However, the government has now asked the Supreme Court for permission to appeal that decision.

“The court is aware of the urgency of this matter,” Britain’s top court said in a statement.

On the other hand, British Prime Minister Theresa May vowed to fight for her draft divorce deal with the European Union after the resignation of her Brexit secretary and other ministers put her strategy and her job in peril.

Just over 12 hours after May announced that her cabinet had agreed to the terms of the deal, Brexit minister Dominic Raab and work and pensions minister Esther McVey resigned.

Eurosceptics in May’s Conservative Party said they had submitted letters calling for a vote of no confidence in her leadership.

May called a news conference at her Downing Street residence to underline her determination to stay the course.

Asked if she would contest any challenge to her position, she replied: “Am I going to see this through? Yes.”

However, hostility from government and opposition lawmakers raised the risk that the deal would be rejected in parliament, and that Britain could leave the EU on March 29 without a safety net.