The final say on the terms of Britain’s departure from the European Union will soon end up where this whole complex process began, in Parliament. This is as it should be. Parliament approved the calling of a referendum and it approved the terms. It voted to support the triggering of Article 50, formally beginning the departure process, and now it will vote on the terms of that departure.
Brexit has constitutional legitimacy and political integrity not because a majority of people voted for it in a referendum which saw an historically high turn out of voters, but because Parliament, our sovereign Parliament, authorised and then enacted the legislation to make it happen. This is not an arcane or eccentric point to make. It is fundamental to the way we are governed.
