Article 50 Brexit challenge in Northern Ireland

Posted on 24 Aug 2016 by Brick Court

Maya Lester QC

We have reported on this blog (e.g. here) on the judicial review proceedings that are underway challenging the Government’s ability to trigger Article 50 of the EU Treaty without recourse to Parliament. Proceedings have now been brought in Northern Ireland too (press release here); the case was lodged in the High Court in Belfast on Friday (19 August 2016).  The claimants are (among others) members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, people with associations with the voluntary & community sector, and human rights organisations.  The press release states that the claim differs from the judicial reviews brought in the Divisional Court in London in that (for example) they raise issues of Northern Irish constitutional law, the Belfast-Good Friday Agreement, and EU law incorporated into the law of Northern Ireland by the European Communities Act 1972.