THERE was finally a welcome development in the saga of Brexit last week.

The High Court in London ruled that Parliament alone has the power to trigger Article 50, throwing out Theresa May’s oft-repeated assertion that the government would decide when to trigger the process and that it did not need the MPs to vote.

The decision is likely to slow Britain’s departure from the EU, though the Prime Minister’s office has promised to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

I welcome the High Court’s ruling in light of the Prime Minister’s failure to come forward with a clear plan for the UK post-Brexit. At the very least, this offers us a little more time to mitigate the damage a Brexit would cause to Scotland’s economy, the latest estimates suggesting that we would lose over £10 billion of our GDP.

The Scottish Government, however, continues to work hard to shore up funding for Scotland’s economy. The latest success came last week when finance secretary David Mackay announced that he would be passing on, in full, the EU funding guarantees that have been offered by the UK Government. This will provide certainty for over £700 million of farming, fishing and structural funds projects.

The secretary noted that the “best way to guarantee the jobs, investment, services and projects which depend on this funding is by maintaining Scotland’s relationship with Europe and our place in the single market”. I look forward to the proposals promised by the Scottish Government in the near future, and congratulate them on their hard work to secure Scotland’s future.

This week, I was delighted to attend Queen Margaret University’s scholarship and awards reception. It was an exciting opportunity to meet with fellow supporters of the university and to learn about some of the student’s impressive achievements. I also had the pleasure to attend First Step Community Project’s AGM. They continue to do excellent work supporting the families and children in our community.