The UK parliament is back where it should be: at the heart of a great debate about the nation’s future. In the most significant constitutional judgment for a generation, the Supreme Court has ruled 8 to 3 that an act of parliament must be passed by the Houses of Commons and Lords before the government can activate the Article 50 process to leave the EU. In simple terms: Prime Minister Theresa May does not have the authority to trigger Brexit without the consent of MPs and peers.

A majority of British voters supported leaving the EU in last year’s referendum, a result that must be respected. If parliament uses its court-affirmed powers to frustrate the process — for example by pushing the Article 50 notification beyond Mrs May’s March deadline — it could undermine trust in the UK’s institutions. Parliamentarians must therefore find a balance between giving the government free rein and frustrating the will of the electorate.

The government may have been unwise to appeal last year’s defeat on this matter in a lower court, but it has now wisely accepted the judgment. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, has said that Article 50 legislation will be put before parliament “within days” and it will be “the most straightforward bill possible”. The Commons voted overwhelmingly to support Brexit in December, but some MPs will be tempted to place amendments on the bill in order to micromanage the negotiations with the EU. This would be a mistake. The government cannot negotiate in a legislative straitjacket.