Brexit never? Britain can still change its mind, says Article 50 author

LONDON, (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May should stop misleading voters and admit that Brexit can be avoided if Britain decides to unilaterally scrap divorce talks, the man who drafted Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty will say today.

May formally notified the European Union of Britain’s intention to leave the EU by triggering Article 50 of the treaty on March 29, setting the clock ticking on a twoyear exit process, which has so far failed to yield a divorce deal.

“While the divorce talks proceed, the parties are still married. Reconciliation is still possible,” John Kerr, British ambassador to the EU from 1990 to 1995, will say in a speech in London.

“We still have all the rights of a member-state, including the right to change our minds,” Kerr will say, according to excerpts released by his office. “The British people have the right to know this – they should not be misled.”

The day May triggered Article 50, she told the British parliament that there was “no turning back” and that the United Kingdom would be leaving the EU.

“A political decision has been made, in this country, to maintain that there can be no going back. Actually, the country still has a free choice about whether to proceed,” Kerr said.

In the shock referendum in June 2016, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9 percent of votes cast, backed leaving the EU while 16.1 million voters, or 48.1 percent of votes cast, backed staying.

May, an initial opponent of Brexit who won the top job in the political turmoil that followed the vote, said last month that Britain would not revoke Article 50. Government lawyers asked judges last year to assume that it was irrevocable.