A wrecking ball

The High Court ruling that Brexit requires parliamentary approval further complicates matters.

Today’s papers

The story dominates all the front pages. The Daily Telegraph talks of a Brexit constitutional crisis; the government will appeal against the decision at the Supreme Court on 7 and 8 December. If the ruling is overturned, then Theresa May could still trigger Article 50 by March 2017. The Financial Times says that the plans for Brexit “have been dealt a blow by a landmark High Court ruling”. The Daily Mail, the Daily Express and The Sun lament the ruling, accusing the three judges of over-ruling the will of the people. Francis Elliott, the political editor of The Times, says that the prime minister faces a finely balanced calculation over whether she calls an early general election. The unchanging mantra from Downing Street is that Mrs May does not believe that there should be an election before 2020, but if Britain is on course for a constitutional car crash, it would be her duty to take evasive action, he argues. Meanwhile David Willetts, a former universities minister, has put forward a range of suggestions on how to mitigate the expected decrease in university income after Brexit, reports Research Fortnight, our sister publication.