Paul Daly

The Brexit legal challenges that could force Britain to leave without a deal

Until now, Brexit-related legal challenges have been brought by Remainers, apparently hoping to find legal means of slowing down or stopping Britain’s departure from the EU.

Gina Miller’s crack legal team persuaded the Supreme Court in 2017 that sending the Article 50 notification to Brussels could only be authorised by an Act of Parliament. And more recently, lawyers for Andy Wightman (a Green Party representative in the Scottish Parliament) made it all the way to the ECJ, where they received clarification that Britain can revoke its Article 50 notification unilaterally, thereby cancelling Brexit. These were legal cases brought in part to vindicate fundamental principles of constitutional law, but primarily to achieve political objectives.

Soon, however, we are likely to see Brexiteers marching through the doors of the Royal Courts of Justice, brandishing papers to apply for judicial review. They will be bringing legal cases, but with very different political objectives to their Remainer predecessors.

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