Ken777 wrote:Olddog wrote:While the march was nice, nothing will stop Brexit now. I very much doubt that the ECJ says that a leaving member can cancel its article 50...
I've been passing up news on Bretix because I was against it - but as an ignorant Yank my opinion doesn't matter.
The question I have is the potential for the Brits to vote again before the last day and vote to cancel Article 50? If that happens would the PMs of the EU countries put on political pressure onto the ECJ?
In general terms, when will the Brits be provided with clear guidance of issues that the politicians ns hav e already agreed on?
Four things on article 50:
1) There is a European court of justice hearing (on November 27th) to decide the legalities of withdrawing Article 50,this should give clarity on the issue.
2) In the meantime, the UK has also sought counsel on this subject, but has refused to release details of its findings/position
3) The author meanwhile of the article 50 letter says it could be withdrawn as it merely expresses an intention to do something, and intent can legally be withdrawn.
4) EU leaders have said verbally that they would welcome the withdrawal of article 50 and not oppose it
So there should be some public legal clarity on this subject soon. In the meantime how things move is very much in the hands of the UK Parliament
For sure support for Brexit is waning as more and more evidence of the harm it will do to this country becomes evident, and political pressure to avoid a "no deal" scenario grows.
The #peoplesvote campaign is to give people a final, informed say on the final negotiation, to accept or decline the terms with an option to remain in the EU, which seems on the face of it a very logical, sensible and democratic way forward, especially in light of the almost total failure to deliver on the key promises from 2016.
However the hard liners want to deny the people that chance to express an opinion, arguing that the decision was made in 2016 and cannot be re-considered in light of the facts.
The final decision will be down to parliamentary arithmetic and it is not clear other than to suggest that:
- there is no parliamentary majority for a no deal, yet government is trying to remove the ability for parliament to vote against this (so much for taking back control)
- there is likely no majority for a deal that does not meet the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, which is a huge sticking point in not only negotiating a "backstop" but also any final deal
- there could be a majority for Single Market Membership but the government is currently opposed to this.
all a big mess really,