New legal challenge over Brexit goes to the High Court
The High Court is set to rule today on whether Theresa May needs Parliament's consent to trigger Article 127, the exit mechanism for Britain's membership of the European Economic Area (EEA).
Campaigners Single Market Justice argue leaving the EEA after Brexit is separate to EU membership.
The applicants, who include both Leave and Remain voters, launched the legal challenge in a bid to prevent a hard Brexit and keep Britain in the single market.
They say the Government could be acting unlawfully by assuming leaving the EU means the UK's automatic departure from the single market.
The campaign group includes Peter Wilding, chairman of the pro-Europe pressure group British Influence, who is widely credited to have coined the word Brexit.
He is joined by Conservative lobbyist Adrian Yalland, who voted Leave, and four anonymous applicants referred to as W, L, T and B.
A single judge who considered the case in private last December refused permission to apply for judicial review, but the applicants are exercising their right to renew their application in open court in a hearing before Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mr Justice Lewis.
Mr Yalland said: "I voted to leave the EU but Parliament did not intend the referendum to cover the issue of membership of the EEA."
Having "skimmed" the Government's white paper setting out its plans for leaving the EU, Mr Yalland said "it offers no hope of a Parliamentary vote on the decision to leave the EEA".
He said: "In conceding membership of the single market, the Government is throwing away its 'ace card' in the negotiations, as well as a viable transition measure.
"If we decide when we leave the single market, and it is at our discretion whether we do so or not, then the advantage in the Brexit negotiations is with us."