Britain can drop Brexit, says top EU lawyer

LONDON: The European Union’s top legal adviser said Britain had the right to withdraw its Brexit notice, opening a new front in a battle over Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to leave the EU, which could be rejected in parliament next week.

The advice from the European Court of Justice’s advocate general will embolden supporters of EU membership in Britain’s parliament on the first of five days of debate on May’s plans to keep close economic ties with the bloc after leaving in March.

May faces a daunting struggle to secure parliament’s approval in the key vote on Dec 11 after her plan was criticised by Brexit supporters and opponents alike.

The strength of that opposition was clear on Monday, when six parties, including her nominal allies in Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, won the right to press an attempt to hold the government in contempt of parliament. But May is pressing on nonetheless.

“The British people want us to get on with a deal that honours the referendum and allows us to come together again as a country, whichever way we voted,” she will tell lawmakers, according to excerpts of her speech.

“This is the deal that delivers for the British people.”

If, against the odds, she wins the vote, Britain will leave the EU on

March 29 under terms negotiated with Brussels – the UK’s biggest shift in trade and foreign policy for more than 40 years.

Sterling jumped after the ECJ advocate general’s advice was published, on hopes that it would make a disorderly “no-deal” Brexit next

March less likely.

If she loses, May could call for a second vote on the deal.

But defeat would increase the chances of Britain leaving without a deal – a prospect that could mean chaos for Britain’s economy and businesses – and put May under fierce pressure to resign.

Defeat could also 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. —

Uncertain times: May will put her Brexit deal to Parliament for a decisive vote on Dec 11, but after her plan was savaged from all sides, the signs are she’s on course to lose. —