Petition on whether UK can halt Brexit gets go-ahead

A court in Scotland has ruled that legal action can go ahead to establish whether the UK can unilaterally halt the Brexit process if British voters decide the final deal is unacceptable.


The Supreme Civil Court of Scotland, also known as the Court of Session, said politicians from a cross-party spectrum can submit a petition on the matter.

The petition, created by Members of Parliament, Members of the European Parliament and Members of the Scottish Parliament from across four parties in Scotland, will be presented to the UK government, which will have 21 days to respond.

The group of politicians argue that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) should rule on whether the UK can withdraw its Article 50 letter without needing the approval of the other 27 EU member states.

According to The Telegraph newspaper, Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon gives any EU member state the right to quit unilaterally and outlines the procedure for doing so. It gives the leaving country two years to negotiate an exit deal. Technically, once it is set in motion, it cannot be stopped except by unanimous consent of all member states.

A crowd-funding campaign to raise funds for the petition has passed the target of £50,000 and the group of politicians has now filed the petition to the Court of Session requesting judges to refer the issue to the ECJ in Luxembourg.

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said earlier this week that any decision taken to withdraw Article 50 and bring a halt to the Brexit process needed a unanimous agreement from all 27 EU member states. The petitioners, however, argue that this process has never been put to the courts and thus cannot be rejected.
 [aa.com.tr]
 22/12/17