Court rules on article 50: Parliament’s authority is confirmed

There was nothing surprising about yesterday’s eight-to-three ruling by Britain’s supreme court that the House of Commons must be consulted before Article 50 — the formal invocation of UK/EU divorce proceedings — can be triggered.

It means prime minister Theresa May cannot rely on a dusty-vellum royal prerogative to instigate the Lisbon Treaty exit process without involving her parliamentary peers.

Any other outcome would have been unimaginable. It would have emasculated Britain’s parliamentary democracy and provoke a constitutional crisis.