As you will probably have gathered, we were, thanks to your support and the work of our stellar legal team, successful last week in Scotland's highest court. The matter is scheduled to be heard in the Supreme Court over three days starting tomorrow, and we are expecting to make our arguments in response to the Government's appeal on Wednesday afternoon. 

If you have some free time on the bus I discuss the case - and surrounding matters - in this podcast. 

Fingers crossed,

Jo Maugham QC

Yesterday Boris Johnson decided to suspend Parliament in an attempt to force through No Deal against what we know to be the wishes of MPs who have three times rejected it. Whoever loses our challenge to his action – presently scheduled to be heard on Friday week – will appeal to the Inner House of the Court of Session and then to the Supreme Court. This is all likely to happen at great speed.

We generally prefer not to crowdfund for appeals until would-be contributors have seen the decision the appeal against which they are being invited to pay to advance or resist. It is undesirable that you should be asked to fund legal work ‘blind’, as it were. However, time is likely to be very short to raise monies to fund what will be inevitable appeals.

We – the cross-party group of more than seventy MPs and me – are incredibly grateful for your support, without which this vital litigation would not be possible.

Jo Maugham QC

You can read here a copy of our 'adjusted' claim against the Government to prevent it cancelling Parliament.

Readers will note from paragraph 37 that we contend that: "as a matter of constitutional law, the United Kingdom Government may not permit a 'no deal Brexit' unless and until explicit statutory authorisation from the Union Parliament is provided in the form of primary legislation to this effect." And that the courts would, in certain circumstances, "be obliged to pronounce a mandatory order ordaining the United Kingdom Government duly to revoke, prior to exit day, its Article 50 TEU withdrawal notification."

The case is fully funded for the first stage. However, we think the case is likely to proceed very quickly to the Supreme Court and we will need to reopen the crowdfunding if there are appeals. If you wish to support the work done by the Good Law Project you can do so here.

We will write further on the reasoning behind the adjustments shortly.

Jo Maugham QC

We can confirm that our action to prevent Boris Johnson cancelling Parliament has received (without an oral hearing) permission to proceed. We can further confirm that the case is fully funded - we should not need to raise further funds unless there is an appeal.

A copy of the Petition, in which our director Jolyon Maugham QC, along with Jo Swinson and Joanna Cherry and some seventy other MPs and Peers, can be read here.

The Government’s ‘defence’ seems only to be that because Parliament amended the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Bill it follows that it is happy with any other suspension of Parliament. This (it seems to me at any rate) is an almost self-evidently bad proposition.

At 9am on Tuesday the Court will determine the timetabling of the full hearing. The Court is well aware of the urgency of the matter. 

Because our 'friends' on the Hard Right seek to smear the work the Good Law Project does, and the BBC gives them a platform so to do and affords us no right to respond, let us say (1) that our director does not earn one single penny from any of the monies that go to Crowdjustice or the GLP, and (2) it is a matter of public record that the Good Law Project brought the case that (a) became Miller (and went public before she did) (b) forced the Electoral Commission to reopen its investigation into the illegal actions by Vote Leave and (c) established we could unilaterally revoke Article 50.

Finally, we are incredibly grateful to the legal team of Aidan O’Neill QC, Professor Kenneth Armstrong, David Welsh and Sam Fowles instructed by Balfour+Manson.

Jo Maugham QC