A NORTHERN Irishman is among the applicants to a landmark judicial review case to challenge the Brexit ruling in London's Supreme Court this week.
Raymond McCord, 62, from Belfast will join British woman Gina Miller, her co-applicant Deir Tozetti Dos Santos and Northern Irish figures, Stephen Agnew, Colum Eastwood, David Ford, John O'Dowd, Dessie Donnelly, Dawn Purvis, Monica Wilson, The Committee on the Administration of Justice and The Human Rights Consortium in the judicial review case against the British Government.
The judicial review will last until Thursday this week and 11 judges of the Supreme Court will hear the questions put forward by the applicants to challenge Brexit.
Speaking about Brexit previously, Mr McCord said that Brexit is "like a marriage."
"If the wife wants to sell the house, she requires the husband's consent. What I mean by this is that the British Prime Minister is saying that 'Brexit means Brexit' but what she has to understand is that she requires the consent of the people of Northern Ireland.
"We voted to remain within the European Union and our vote should count for something," he added.
"I also believe that the Prime Minister should seek the consent of Parliament before invoking Article 50."
Mr McCord has acted as a victims' campaigner following the murder of his son by Loyalist paramilitaries on November 9 1997.
In a previous interview with The Irish Post, Mr McCord stated that if Brexit goes ahead, it would remove Northern Irish victims the right to go to the European Court of Justice.
“Under EU law, it says the right to life, and the state has a duty to protect that right.
“The state has failed. We are left with no other choice but to take them to European courts on this as a last resort and if Brexit goes through, that right will be taken away from us.”
In the case of Mr McCord, the Northern Irishman will ask the judges to consider if triggering Article 50 will go against the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
"Does the triggering of Article 50 Treaty of European Union by the exercise of the prerogative power without the consent of the people of Northern Ireland impede the operation of section 1 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998?"
Section one of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 states that "it is hereby declared that Northern Ireland in its entirety remains part of the United Kingdom and shall not cease to be so without the consent of a majority of the people of:
- Northern Ireland voting in a poll held for the purposes of this section in accordance with Schedule 1.
- But if the wish expressed by a majority in such a poll is that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland, the Secretary of State shall lay before Parliament such proposals to give effect to that wish as may be agreed between Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of Ireland.
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