Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2016 to Question 49982, what the effect on the operation of the Ponsonby rule would be of the triggering of Article 50 of the Treaty on the Functions of the EU by the use of the prerogative.

The Government has consistently said it will comply with all the constitutional and legal obligations that apply to the deal that we will negotiate with the EU. However, the Government's position is that the Ponsonby Rule (as codified in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010) is not relevant to the invocation of Article 50.