Brexit setback: May could engineer snap election in 2017

BREXIT Minister David Davis asserted on Monday that some MPs (Members of Parliament) want to try to "wreck the negotiation" over the UK's EU exit. This follows Prime Minister Theresa May assertion that she will deliver Brexit "in full", despite an unexpected judicial challenge last week.

Last Thursday, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales caused much consternation to the government when it found Mrs May has no authority to trigger Article 50 - the provision that will commence Brexit negotiations - without prior approval from the House of Commons and House of Lords. While the government will appeal the ruling, some Brexiteers are already concerned that the UK's EU departure could be derailed.

But the significance of the decision is that it sets rules of the process that Mrs May will have to follow as she attempts to implement the results of the June referendum. In doing so, the court has upped the chances that Article 50 will not be triggered until after the March deadline that the prime minister has set, and has also raised the possibility of a snap general election in 2017.