Mandelson backing THIRD bid to thwart Brexit in the courts

A LOBBY group backed by Lord Mandelson has instructed lawyers to begin a third legal challenge designed to thwart Brexit.

The British Influence think-tank, supported by the architect of New Labour a and close ally of Tony Blair, wants a judicial review into whether leaving the EU means automatic withdrawal from the single market.

If it succeeds, it would mean MPs – many of whom are opposed to a ‘hard Brexit’ – would be given a say.

Leave supporters say remaining in the single market would mean businesses would still have to abide by stifling red tape, and Britain would have to sign up to continued freedom of movement of people.

It is the third such case brought forward by Remain campaigners who are seeking to defy the will of the people.

The Dail Mail reported on Saturday that Europhile lawyers have launched proceedings in the Irish courts in a bid to get EU judges to rule that Brexit can be cancelled. Last week the Supreme Court met to consider the first legal challenge, and to decide whether MPs should get a vote on invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which formally begins the process of leaving the EU.

As Remain supporters step up their efforts to frustrate Brexit, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott again refused to rule out the prospect that Labour could vote against Article 50 next month if the Government does not come up with enough detail on its Brexit plan.

Meanwhile, the anti-Brexit group Open Britain claimed that if Britain leaves the EU customs union as it departs from the EU it will cause an ‘avalanche of paperwork’ for UK businesses.

It claimed they will have to deal with 60million more pieces of paperwork each year if thousands of importing and exporting businesses were forced to fill out similar forms to those required in moving goods and services beyond the EU.

Tory former chancellor Ken Clarke compared Brexit with the Iraq War, saying the fact they were both supported by the public did not mean they were right.

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, he defended his decision to vote against invoking Article 50. ‘If I ever voted to leave the EU I would be the biggest unhung hypocrite,’ he said. ‘The idea that I should just because I was on the losing side in the referendum by a couple of per cent is nonsense. Seventy per cent supported the Iraq War at the time’.

The latest British Influence challenge would see judges ruling on the validity of the Government’s legal position on membership of the wider European Economic Area, which forms the single market.

The think-tank believes leaving the EU does not mean quitting the EEA, which extends the single market’s tariff-free trade in goods to countries including Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Ministers insist that leaving the EU means leaving the EEA, unless we come to some special arrangement. A legal challenge could result in Parliament being given the final say on EEA membership.

A spokesman for British Influence said: ‘There is no need for a hard Brexit and there is no mandate for a hard Brexit.’

The group believes the UK does not need to quit the single market to control immigration, end payments to EU coffers or return powers to Parliament. It also says voters did not decide to leave the trading arrangement when they backed Brexit in the June 23 referendum.

Group chairman Peter Wilding, a Remain supporter, said: ‘This is not stopping Brexit, this is shaping it.

‘The country demands a win-win, smart Brexit, not a lose-lose ideological hard Brexit, which will damage the UK, damage Europe and for which there is no mandate.’

The case is also being supported by Adrian Yalland, a Tory lobbyist who voted to leave. But Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve – one of Open Britain’s supporters in parliament – cast doubt on the legal basis for the new challenge.

Last night a government spokesman said: ‘The UK is party to the EEA agreement only in its capacity as an EU member state. Once the UK leaves the EU, the EEA agreement will automatically cease to apply to the UK.’

‘Damage the UK, damage Europe’