Labour 'won't frustrate' Brexit process
Labour will not "frustrate" the process of triggering talks on the UK leaving the European Union, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has said.
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He said his party would push ministers to reveal plans for negotiations with the EU before Parliament debates them, but added that it should be possible to achieve this by "consensus".
The High Court has ruled that MPs and peers should vote on triggering Brexit.
But the government is appealing against the decision.
Brexit Secretary David Davis is due to address the Commons at 15:30 GMT following the High Court's decision last Thursday that Parliament should have a say before the UK invokes Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which triggers up to two years of formal EU withdrawal talks.
Ministers argue they do not need the consent of MPs and peers to make this choice, because they have sufficient powers already. A further hearing is expected to take place at the Supreme Court early next month.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir Keir said: "The Labour Party accepts that the government has a mandate to leave the EU. They have no mandate for the terms on which we leave.
"We will not frustrate the process by simply voting down Article 50, but we are absolutely clear that before we get to that stage the government must put its plan before Parliament."
Sir Keir said once the government had laid out its negotiating plan, Labour would insist on "discussions" in Parliament on the proposed terms.
He added: "We can't have a vote in a vacuum, but we can't proceed with this approach where the prime minister says, 'I hold all the cards to the future of the UK in Europe and its relationship with Europe and the world and I'm not going disclose even the basic terms to Parliament'. So of course we need that discussion."
The campaigners, led by investment fund manager Gina Miller, who brought the High Court case against the government say that allowing Parliament a vote is vital to the functioning of a democracy.
Ms Miller said a parliamentary vote would prevent ministers acting like a "tin-pot dictatorship".
But Suzanne Evans, one of the three candidates for the UKIP leadership contest, told Today that judges could be "subject to some kind of democratic control" following the High Court's decision.
She did not want to undermine "their judicial independence", but added: "I suppose that in this case, we have had a situation where we have judges committed to stay in the European Union...
"I'm questioning the legitimacy of this particular case. We know that the legal profession threw a collective hissy fit when we voted to leave."
But Sir Keir called this "irresponsible", adding: "Some of us have worked in countries where judges do what governments tell them. We know that's wholly corrosive to the rule of law and democracy."
Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to invoke Article 50 by the end of next March and insists the High Court's ruling will not affect this plan.
For the SNP, But Scotland's Brexit minister, Michael Russell, said he could not imagine any circumstances in which his party's MPs would vote in favour of triggering Article 50.
Following Mr Davis's statement to the Commons, a separate debate will take place on Brexit's potential effect on workers' rights.
In the summer UK-wide referendum, voters opted by 51.9% to 48.1% in favour of leaving the EU.