Next week we see the penultimate stage in this challenge we have mounted on whether the Government has the authority to use ancient Royal Prerogative rights to trigger Article 50 and take the UK out of the EU.

The Supreme Court has taken the unprecedented step of assembling the 11 Supreme Court judges to hear the Government’s appeal against the Divisional Court’s decision that only the UK’s Parliament has the authority to trigger Article 50.

This decision is of enormous constitutional importance because it goes far beyond the comparatively narrow question of who can trigger Article 50.

The arguments that the Government are now making imply that the Government can remove or modify any rights conferred on UK citizens by Parliament or by common law.

Among those putting these arguments forward are MPs and Ministers who in the past have argued that the Government’s use of prerogative powers should be further constrained, so as to re-establish the authority of Parliament in the face of the creeping extension of executive powers by successive governments.

Our solicitor, John Halford, wrote a piece yesterday and has published it on the Bindmans blog – What those with power always want .

As expected, thousands of people will want to follow the Supreme Court hearing, far more than can be accommodated in the Supreme Court building on Parliament Square.

Fortunately, Supreme Court hearings are streamed on the web and it is possible to watch next week’s hearing in Court One via this page Court 1 – Supreme Court Live on the Supreme Court’s web site.

We have been overwhelmed and sustained by the enormous number of messages of support and help from our backers and supporters, as well as the generosity which has funded the challenge. I have not yet been able to respond to all these messages and hope to do so in the coming weeks.

Please rest assured that they have all been read and that the suggestions on how to build and reinforce the arguments we are making have all been taken into account.

Grahame Pigney on behalf of the People’s Challenge.