LONDON—Scotland’s government said on Tuesday that it plans to join a challenge to Prime Minister Theresa May’s push to begin the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union without parliamentary consent, marking the latest twist in a legal drama complicating Britain’s path to Brexit.
Nicola Sturgeon, first minister in Scotland’s semiautonomous government in Edinburgh, said she has instructed Scotland’s top law officer to apply to take part in a Supreme Court hearing scheduled to begin on Dec. 5. Britain’s most senior judges will decide whether Mrs. May has the legal power to unilaterally serve Brussels formal notice of the U.K.’s exit.
A lower U.K. court unexpectedly ruled last week that she doesn’t, prompting the government to appeal the case. Mrs. May has resisted giving lawmakers in Parliament more say over Brexit, fearing it could weaken her bargaining position in exit talks with the EU.
Ms. Sturgeon said in a statement that Scotland will argue that Mrs. May shouldn’t be able to begin the U.K.’s withdrawal process without formal legislation from Parliament in London or the consent of Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Scotland has been an observer in the case.
Scotland, in contrast to the U.K. as a whole, voted to remain within the EU, setting the stage for a clash with London. Ms. Sturgeon has already signaled the Brexit vote could persuade Scots to back secession after narrowly rejecting independence from the U.K. in a 2014 referendum.
A Downing Street spokesman said it was up to the court whether to grant the request. The government will work with the regions as it plans for the U.K.’s exit from the EU, the spokesman said.
The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it expects to deliver its verdict in January after several days of hearings in early December.
Lawyers are divided over Mrs. May’s chance of success in her appeal, but analysts say a loss may persuade her to hold a general election in the hopes of boosting her parliamentary majority to steer her Brexit plans past lawmakers.
