May ‘aims to go it alone’

EX-CIVIL SERVANT SAYS UK CAN REMAIN IN ‘CHANGED EU’

Prime Minister Theresa May wants to trigger Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union without a vote in parliament, a report said on Saturday.

A source in her Downing Street office said the Daily Telegraph report was speculation but added May was “committed to delivering on the verdict the public gave” in the June referendum, when 52% voted to leave the EU.

May’s government already faces a legal challenge to prevent it beginning the process of leaving the EU without an act of parliament.

Lawyers from the Mishcon de Reya law firm are poised to challenge the government in the English High Court, arguing that May cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty – the legal process for leaving the bloc – without a parliamentary debate and vote authorising her to do so.

Most members of the House of Commons, including May, campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU. Meanwhile, Gus O’Donnell, the former head of the civil service, said Brexit was not inevitable and Britain could still remain a part of a changed EU.

“It very much depends what happens to public opinion and whether the EU changes before Britain is ready to leave,” he told The Times newspaper.

“It might be that the broader, more loosely aligned group, is something that the UK is happy being a member of.”

He told BBC radio that elections in France and Germany next year meant: “It is not even clear which leaders our prime minister will be negotiating with, so I don’t think there’s any great rush.” – AFP