Man arrested for online threats to Brexit challenger Gina Miller

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European Union and British Union Jack flag flying in front of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament at Westminster Palace, London, in preparation for the Brexit EU referendum

A man was arrested on Monday for sending online threats to Remain campaigner Gina Miller, who initiated the legal challenge to Brexit.

The Metropolitan police confirmed that a 55-year-old man had been arrested at an address in Swindon, Wiltshire, on suspicion of racially aggravated malicious communications and has now been released on bail. The man had sent online abuse to Ms Miller during the course of November.

As part of the same case, police also issued a ‘cease and desist’ notice to a 38-year old man from Scotland.

51-year old Ms. Miller took her case, which argued that the government could not legally trigger Article 50 without Parliamentary consent, to the High Court in November. The High Court judges ruled in her favour, provoking outcry from those in favour of Brexit and some media platforms.

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Ms Miller, an investment manager and philanthropist, has received a series of racist messages since she launched her case. On Monday she admitted to spending thousands of pounds on personal security since she begun her campaign.

The government appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which begun on Monday and is now into its third day. Ms Miller’s barrister, Lord Pannick QC, spoke yesterday in defence of his client’s claim, using evidence dating back to the rights of Newfoundland lobster farmers in 1892 to argue that “there is no prerogative power available in this case”.

The Court debated why Parliament had failed to make the EU referendum legally binding through legislation before the vote, with Pannick QC using Hansard evidence to show that the minister charged with taking the legislation through the Commons had clearly stated that the vote’s outcome was “advisory”, adding that “It makes no provision for what follows.”