Article 50 bill ‘within days’

He said that while the government accepts the Supreme Court’s judgement that there must be a vote by MPs, and it is necessary as a legal formality, the vote is not about whether or not the UK leaves the EU, because that is the “will of the people”.

“That decision has already been made” and “there can be no going back”, he said, adding that when MPs voted for a referendum they passed on responsibility to the people and the government was committed to following the result.

Mr Davis said the article 50 bill would be separate from the ‘Great Repeal Bill’ which would be introduced later this year, under which it is planned that all EU law will be fully incorporated into domestic UK law, to then be repealed piecemeal as and when parliament decides.

Mr Davis hoped MPs would not seek to use the act as an opportunity to “thwart the will of the people or to frustrate or delay the process”, he said.

He said the government was still committed to triggering article 50 by the end of March.

Labour’s Keir Starmer said he hoped the government would not seek to prevent MPs from introducing amendments to the bill and that it should be about “substance, not just process”.

He also called the government’s appeal a waste of money, saying the government had been wrong to attempt to sideline parliament — to which Mr Davis said the reason for the appeal was to obtain the most clear and authoritative ruling possible.