Tag: Article 50 – extension
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Jeff King: The Prime Minister’s Constitutional Options after the Benn Act: Part I
This is the first of a two-part discussion of this theme. This first part addresses the obligations under the Benn Act and the legal response to attempts to frustrate it; the second part will address non-confidence motions, resignation and change of Government. There has been significant confusion about options open to Government and the opposition…
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Krishan Nadesan: Asking the Impossible: Benn, Kinnock and Extending Article 50
Boris Johnson seems caught in an impossible bind. The European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act – the Benn Act for short – obliges him to seek an extension of Article 50 on 19 October. He can extend, honour the law, but break his promises. He can refuse to extend, honour his promises, but break the…
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Michael Detmold: The Unconstitutional Brexit Letter
1. Responsible Government Parliament is an institution of responsible government. The essence of the common law principle of responsible government is the constitution of a regime of confidence: a government is required to carry the confidence of Parliament. This is the fundamental connexion of the executive (the Government) to the Parliament. The European Union (Withdrawal)…
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Oliver Garner: The Benn-Burt Extension Act: A roadblock to a No-deal Brexit?
Introduction: extension and the Rule of Law On 9 September, the EU (Withdrawal) (No.2) Act 2019 (‘Benn-Burt Extension Act’) received Royal Assent. The Benn-Burt Extension Act imposes a statutory duty upon the Prime Minister (if the relevant conditions are met) to request and accept an extension of the withdrawal negotiating period under Article 50(3) TEU. …
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Robert Craig: What Could Happen Next If the Government Resigns Rather than Send the Letter to the EU?
This post follows on from a previous piece where I attempted to set out the general rules, and a flowchart, to create a route map in the event of a vote of no confidence. This post seeks to address the narrower question of what could happen if the Prime Minister (‘PM’) refused to send the…
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Menelaos Markakis: A Trojan Horse in the EU? The Curious Case of the EU27+1
The EU27 have agreed to grant the extension requested by the Prime Minister, the terms of which need not be repeated here. Suffice it to say for present purposes that exit day has been moved to 31 October 2019 at the latest, subject to the proviso that an approval of the draft Withdrawal Agreement by…
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Richard Lang: Consequences of the Extension Deal: A Reply to Professor Allott
I would like to thank Professor Allott for his fascinating post, ‘Unexpected Denouement’. The UK Remains in the EU by Mistake. The Brexit Saga Could Run and Run’ from Tuesday. I just wanted to be advocatus diaboli on a couple of points, although some extremely able advocates, commenting below the original post, should also be…
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Philip Allott: Unexpected Denouement. The UK Remains in the EU by Mistake. The Brexit Saga Could Run and Run
The two-year time-limit in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union has come and gone. It is now possible that no withdrawal agreement between the European Council and the UK will be concluded. This means that the UK would leave the EU in catastrophic circumstances on April 12. An interesting final irony would be…
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Sam Fowles: Extending Article 50 – Key Legal Issues
With the second defeat of Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement, the subsequent vote to reject a “no-deal” Brexit, and the proposed votes today to extend the Art. 50 period, we must consider the legal practicalities of such an extension. Art. 50(2) provides that, once a state has submitted a notification that it intends to leave the…
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Robert Craig: Why Royal Consent Is Required for the Proposed Article 50 Extension Bill
I wrote recently on this blog about the issue of Royal Assent. This post concerns the wholly separate issue of Royal Consent which is a requirement for those rare Bills that would affect the royal prerogative. The possibility of a no deal exit has led Yvette Cooper MP to propose a Bill, the European Union…