The Supreme Court this week rejected an appeal by the Government against a Scottish ruling which asked the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) to look at whether the UK can reverse the Brexit clause.

A cross-party group of MPs, MEPs and MSPs, along with Jolyon Maugham QC, the director of the Good Law Project, had asked the Scottish courts to rule that the case should be referred to the CJEU in Luxembourg. A full explainer from the Good Law project is here

The case was raised in Scotland’s highest court, the Court of Session, earlier this year and the request to take it to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) was initially denied after the government argued it was a “hypothetical” and “academic” question.

The case was referred to the ECJ in September by the Court of Session in Edinburgh, which later refused to grant the UK government permission to appeal. The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union then applied directly to the Supreme Court for permission to appeal. The Government has since tried to appeal this decision twice, with the most recent application rejected by the UK Supreme Court on Tuesday

The European Court of Justice is to examine on 27 November whether the UK can unilaterally halt Brexit. The full transcript of the most recent ruling is here .The advisory Opinion of the Advocate is expected before Christmas.