European court adviser says UK can withdraw Brexit notice as May begins parliament quest
LONDON (Reuters) – A senior European Union legal adviser said on Tuesday that Britain has the right to withdraw its Brexit notice, opening a new front in a battle over Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to leave the bloc.
The advice from a European Court of Justice advocate general emboldened supporters of EU membership in Britain’s parliament during the first of five days of debate over May’s plans to retain close economic ties after leaving in March.
But May has no intention of revoking the notice, her spokesman said, despite facing a daunting struggle to secure parliament’s approval in the key vote on December 11 after her plan was criticized by Brexit supporters and opponents alike.
“The British people want us to get on with a deal that honors the referendum and allows us to come together again as a country, whichever way we voted,” she will tell lawmakers on Tuesday, according to excerpts from her speech.
“This is the deal that delivers for the British people.”
May says if lawmakers do not back her deal, it could open the door to Britain falling out of the EU without measures to soften the transition, or that Brexit might not happen.
The formal advice from an ECJ advocate general – not binding but usually heeded by the court – suggested to some lawmakers that revoking the Article 50 divorce notice was an option.
“It’s a false choice to say it’s the PM’s deal or chaos,” said Conservative lawmaker Sam Gyimah, who quit as a minister on Friday over May’s deal. “We should look at all the options and not be boxed in by our own red lines.”
Sterling rose on hopes that the court advice would make a disorderly “no-deal” Brexit next March less likely.
May’s spokesman told reporters: “It does nothing in any event to change the clear position of the government that Article 50 is not going to be revoked.” THE CRUCIAL December 11 vote is likely to decide the shape of Brexit. If, against the odds, May wins, Britain will leave the EU on March 29 – its biggest shift in trade and foreign policy for more than 40 years.
If she loses, May could call for a second vote on the deal. But defeat would increase the chances of a “no-deal” exit, which could mean chaos for Britain’s economy and businesses, and put May under fierce pressure to resign.
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney denied accusations of scaremongering after the bank said last week that, under a worst-case Brexit, Britain could suffer greater damage to its economy than during the financial crisis of 2008.
He also told lawmakers that British investment was now about 16% below where it was expected to be before the referendum in 2016.
Defeat for May could make it more likely that Britain will hold a second referendum on exiting the EU – which would almost certainly require it at least to defer its departure – three years after voting narrowly to leave.
May, 62, has toured Britain, spent hours being grilled in Parliament and invited lawmakers to her Downing Street residence to try to win over her many critics.
But the deal has united critics at both ends of the spectrum: euroskeptics say it will make Britain a vassal state while EU supporters take a similar line, saying it will have to obey the rules of membership while foregoing the benefits.
She also faces a motion by opposition parties and her own nominal allies in the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), for her government to be found in contempt of parliament for failing to publish in full the legal advice on Brexit that it commissioned.
Her spokesman said the cabinet had discussed the motion on Tuesday but maintained that ministers must be able to obtain candid legal advice “without fear that it will immediately be published.”
More than two years after it voted to leave, the testy debates that shaped the referendum have intensified, dividing Britain and unsettling markets, businesses and foreign residents.
May hopes that if she forces her deal through, firms that have put off investments and made contingency plans for fear of trade drying up will be able to move on.
She says her deal will maintain close economic ties with the EU while enabling Britain to trade more freely with the rest of the world and meet voters’ demands to reduce immigration.
Brexit supporters have vowed to defeat opposition and threatened to bring May down. Pro-EU lawmakers and the DUP, which props up her government, say they will vote against, and the main opposition Labour Party says it will try to unseat her.