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PA Wire/PA Images

High Court says UK parliament must have vote on starting Brexit

The landmark constitutional decision could delay Britain’s exit from the EU.

THE HIGH COURT in London has ruled that parliament, not the government, must approve the start of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, in a landmark decision that could delay Brexit.

Three senior judges ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May did not have the right to use her executive power to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon treaty, which begins a two-year countdown to leaving the bloc.

“We hold that the Secretary of State does not have power under the Crown’s prerogative to give notice pursuant to Article 50 of the TEU for the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union,” the judgement said.

The government was given leave to appeal and is widely expected to take the ruling to the Supreme Court, but it made no immediate announcement on the subject.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said the government was “disappointed” at the decision on Article 50, adding: “The government is determined to respect the result of the referendum.”

May has said she intends to trigger Article 50 by the end of March, and accused those bringing the court challenge of seeking to frustrate the process.

Most members of the House of Commons campaigned for Britain to stay in the EU in the June referendum, and there is speculation they could push for a softer break with the bloc or even delay it altogether.

“I am grateful to the court for the result, this is a victory for parliamentary democracy,” one of the claimants in the case, Grahame Pigney, told reporters outside court.

“I now hope everyone will respect the court decision so parliament will now make a decision on relation to the service of the Article 50 notice.

“The government has indicated that they wish to appeal to the Supreme court, we would ask them not to do that, but if we do will we take it there and fight this.”

- © AFP 2016.

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    Mute Fozz
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:36 PM

    Incredible in this day and age people still fall for the ‘African Prince with lotsa money but needs funds to release said money’ scam…come on folks….

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    Mute Jester VonDoom
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:48 PM

    maybe loneliness was a factor, this lady seems to have wanted it to real so much

    341
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    Mute john g mcgrath
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:52 PM

    It’s in the nature of the beast !!!

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    Mute Harry Whitehead
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    Aug 16th 2016, 6:02 PM

    I know it’s tempting to laugh at others’ naïvety, but when you think about the outcome it’s little different to all those pensioners who get duped by fake bank employees, rogue property dealers and cowboy tradesmen. Another lonely, emotionally vulnerable person has been left in financial ruin while some keyboard-savvy lowlife is laughing as he wallows in his loot.

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    Mute Joey_Westland
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    Aug 16th 2016, 6:06 PM

    Some very clever scammers out there.
    A friend of mine met an American woman online who spun a terrific yarn about wanting to come to Ireland to study Irish folklore. Really convincing. Communicated with her for ages, she was tying up loose ends and moving lock, stock and barrel to Dublin where she was enrolled in UCD.
    Three times I had to stop him from forwarding money to her, we almost fell out over this fictitious person.
    My argument:
    ‘If as you say she ‘Truly loves you’ then she will find a way to make it here’
    Eventually the penny dropped when she contacted him from Amsterdam airport asking him to forward a few thousand euros to facilitate her claim that she was financially self sufficient entering the EU.

    174
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    Mute James Delaney
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    Aug 16th 2016, 8:31 PM

    She is a fool & a gold digger – No sympathy 4 her at all. HA HA HA.

    16
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    Mute Deirdre Maher
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    Aug 16th 2016, 11:44 PM

    Iv a friend feel for someone living here with friends .. Went home to visit and have medical checks eat as cheaper at home ! She said she had cancer ! .. Needed thousands for treatment .. We convinced him eventually .. Turned out one of her friends was her husband !

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    Mute Liz Gallagher
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    Aug 17th 2016, 1:51 PM

    Wha?????

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    Mute darrell fahy
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    Aug 16th 2016, 6:00 PM

    Loneliness leaves people very vulnerable

    168
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    Mute James Delaney
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    Aug 16th 2016, 8:33 PM

    Yeah so does ger wish 4 a ‘luxury’ life.

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    Mute Peter King
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:37 PM

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3887493.stm getting revenge on the scammers

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Aug 16th 2016, 6:36 PM

    That’s brilliant Peter!

    55
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    Mute Gooney
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:37 PM

    A real pity,but hard to believe ppl fall for this carry on now a days!

    108
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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Aug 16th 2016, 6:28 PM

    People over 60 wouldn’t be as Internet savy as younger people add loneliness to that and you have the perfect victim.

    105
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    Mute Fred Johnson
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:43 PM

    Why does this seem to happen a bit more in the UK. My working theory is that British women are a bit more soppy romantics compared to savvy sceptical and can’t take a complement Irish women.

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    Mute Jester VonDoom
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:53 PM

    i know some irish women who’d bite the head off you for complementing them

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    Mute Patrick Gough
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:53 PM

    Fred it happens here too. The victims keep it quiet. wouldn’t you?

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Aug 16th 2016, 6:39 PM

    I do NOT look lovely today!!!!!

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    Mute Jester VonDoom
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    Aug 16th 2016, 7:03 PM

    haha thats it Deborah on the button!

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    Mute David Murphy
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:37 PM

    Mark Hamilton…better known as Luke Skywalkerton

    104
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    Mute Nollaig Kelly
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:38 PM

    Poor silly woman

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    Mute Derek
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    Aug 16th 2016, 10:39 PM

    Literally!

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    Mute Gerry Fallon
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    Aug 16th 2016, 6:51 PM

    It’s the lowest of the low.Preying on that poor woman’s emotions.

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    Mute Barra O Brien
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    Aug 16th 2016, 8:07 PM

    I’ve got 20 million resting in my account but I need 50 grand to release it, can anyone help me? I’m also a prince, good looking and single…

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    Mute Uncle Monty
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:38 PM

    I hope that isn’t her profile picture on the dating site.

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    Mute Uncle Monty
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:47 PM

    Yes, I see the Met Police caption perfectly clear now.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Aug 16th 2016, 6:38 PM

    A prominent Irish businessman, highly experienced, was defrauded or scammed of almost 750k sterling to get the ex Emperor of Angola’s uncut diamonds worth 400 million sterling from a Safe Deposit box in Amsterdam.

    People can be conned by greed, by pretend romance , by the need or want to help and due to vulnerabilities.

    These romance scams are supposedly very prevalent but rarely surface due to acute embarrassment.

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    Mute Larry Doyle
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    Aug 16th 2016, 7:06 PM

    Who was that Michael?

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    Mute Joey_Westland
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:42 PM

    ‘£4 million in gold deposits in Ghana he was trying to have released from the bank. He claimed that after he had recovered his wealth from the bank he would come to Foster and they would spend their retirement together in luxury. He just needed some additional funds in order to complete the deal.’
    With collateral like that I could afford to live in Dublin.

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    Mute Jester VonDoom
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:53 PM

    just about

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    Mute John003
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:58 PM

    It has become a major industry in Ghana and Nigeria High quality internet access in Ghana to facilitate the scammers
    Sort of revenge for all the bad colonial experience

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    Mute michael o brien
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:38 PM

    No fool like an old fool,

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    Mute Eileen Charters
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    Aug 16th 2016, 5:38 PM

    As they say… there’s one born every minute…

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    Mute Larry Doyle
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    Aug 16th 2016, 7:04 PM

    ….and two to take ‘em.

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    Mute Derek
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    Aug 16th 2016, 10:48 PM

    Hard to feel sorry for her even after being arrested for money laundering and this chap even had her allow other women to use her account to send him money, how would they have fitted into their supposed future together?? Flipping hell after being arrested and giving her story to police she was obviously informed of that this was a clearly a scammer preying on her and these other women yet she continued to send her savings and even go into debt for him. Nah, there’s desperate, gullible and lonely and there’s this, being arrested and landing in a world of legal trouble yet continues to just give away her savings to a charming stranger in Africa of all places. Plain stupidity.

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    Mute Dunkel Master
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    Aug 16th 2016, 6:47 PM

    One born every minute..

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    Mute Stan Considine
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    Aug 16th 2016, 10:01 PM

    wow some people are so stupid

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    Mute Peter Buchanan
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    Aug 17th 2016, 7:16 AM

    Stupid is as stupid does….

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