UK government hit with new Brexit lawsuit
The British government is facing a new legal action over whether it has the right to take the UK out of the single market as part of its withdrawal from the European Union (EU), according to a report.
A think tank named British Influence has filed the lawsuit, arguing that the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s membership in the European Economic Area (EEA) means that there is a chance to stop the government from leaving the single market, BBC reported on Monday.
The group’s lawyers said that leaving the EU does not automatically end Britain’s membership in the EEA and it would be up to the UK Parliament to decide.
The government has made it clear that EEA membership ends upon leaving the EU, the report stated.
If the case succeeds, British lawmakers could vote against leaving the single market until a long-term solution was introduced.
According to British Influence, the EEA membership would only be retracted by triggering Article 127 of the EEA agreement.
The group wanted to know if Britain was a member of the EEA in its own right or because it is a member of the EU.
Professor George Yarrow, chairman of the Regulatory Policy Institute and emeritus professor at Hertford College, Oxford, said the EEA Agreement does not include any provisions on the UK’s membership lapse in case of Brexit.
“There is no provision in the EEA Agreement for UK membership to lapse if the UK withdraws from the EU,” he said “The only exit mechanism specified is Article 127, which would need to be triggered.”
The case was expected to take a long time to process and was likely to be referred to the European Court of Justice, meaning that Prime Minister Theresa May had to take more time before triggering the Lisbon Treaty’s Article 50 and begin the process.
May has promised to begin the process in March and complete it by 2019. However, those plans were delayed when the UK High Court required a parliamentary vote for triggering Article 50.
If the Article 127 of the EEA goes to the parliament, it is likely to divide the lawmakers and break the small majority that supports Brexit.
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