Brit Remainer lawyers launch Brexit challenge in IRELAND in fresh bid to keep UK in EU
Europhile barrister Jolyon Maugham QC leading crowdfunded charge to block exit in defiance of referendum result
A GROUP of lawyers are trying to challenge Brexit in the Irish High Court in yet another attempt to derail Britain’s EU exit.
PM Theresa May previously said she wants to invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty by the end of March – kicking off up to two years of negotiations with Brussels.
But the lawyers are hoping a court in Dublin will refer the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to determine whether Article 50 can be revoked.
They claim the case is being brought in Ireland because the Irish Government colluded in a breach of the EU Treaties by wrongly excluding Britain from some EU Council meetings after the referendum.
However, there has also been a suggestion that the Dublin court would be more likely to refer the case to the ECJ.
If successful, the bid would put the key decision over Britain’s exit in the hands of judges in Luxembourg – who could then rule that Parliament could vote down May’s Brexit deal at the end of the negotiations.
One of the leaders of the group of lawyers behind the bid, Jolyon Maugham QC, said he wanted to give people the chance to “change their minds”.
Writing on a crowdfunding page where he called for donations to raise £70,000 to initiate the challenge, Maugham wrote: “If we cannot withdraw our Article 50 notification then Parliament will have to accept those agreements – whatever their content.”
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He added: “The Government will have free reign to do exactly what it wants. There will be no control by Parliament.
“But if the notification can be withdrawn Parliament will have a choice: it will be free to reject that deal.
“And, because the Government knows this, and because it wishes to deliver the result of the Referendum, it will have to try to do the deal that Parliament wants or it will risk the possibility that Parliament throws the deal out.”
Over £30,000 was raised less than 24 hours after the appeal was launched.
The group hopes to launch proceedings in the Irish courts by the end of the year and if successful, move to the European Court of Justice within months.
The latest challenge comes as British Supreme Court Judges are reportedly split over whether to give Parliament the chance to vote on when Britain leaves the European Union.
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