Have you noticed how many siren voices are suggesting that Britain rescinds Article 50 to buy time? The Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, tells us that it is in the UK’s gift to avoid a no deal Brexit and buy “more time to decide what it wants” We have Sir John Major saying “We need to revoke Article 50 with immediate effect. The clock must be stopped. It is clear we need the most precious commodity of all: time.” Versions of this can be heard elsewhere. But it’s legal nonsense, for reasons that are not properly understood.
The ECJ did not give us carte blanche to revoke the notice and then re-issue notice as we see fit. Words matter, and each of its words has a legal definition.
- The recent ECJ ruling which said that we could unilaterally revoke Article 50 placed some fairly severe restrictions on the UK.
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