Media Release: New legal challenge launched to the Prime Minister's Brexit strategy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LEGAL CHALLENGE LAUNCHED TO PRIME MINISTER’S BREXIT STRATEGY

Less than 24 hours after the Prime Minister set out her Brexit strategy in her Florence speech she was facing the prospect of Judicial Review of a key element of that strategy – the so-called “Implementation Period”.

On 24^th September a Letter Before Claim, the first formal step towards Judicial Review of Theresa May’s policy, was sent to the Prime Minister and to Oliver Gilman who is a Senior Lawyer at the Government Legal Department.

The Letter Before Claim asserts that the “Implementation Period” proposed by the Prime Minister is not lawfully possible.

The Letter Before Claim indicates an intention to bring the legal issues which are of concern before the Divisional Court in London.

The Prime Minister sent what purported to be an Article 50 “notification” to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council on 29^th March 2017.

The negotiations which are based on the Prime Minister’s letter must also comply with Article 50.

The Letter Before Claim founds on Paragraph 3 of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.

Paragraph 3 of Article 50 requires that any withdrawal agreement takes effect no later than 29^th / 30^th March 2019.

The proposed Judicial Review asserts that is not possible to make an Article 50 agreement  which corresponds to the Prime Minister’s plan, whether one calls it an “Implementation Period” (as the Prime Minister does) or “transitional arrangements” (as Michel Barnier does).

The Letter Before Claim also asserts that a Deferred Exit Agreement, in which the UK remains a Member State of the European Union after March 2019, is legally more credible although a Deferred Exit Agreement would require the unanimous agreement of the 27 other EU Member States.

The Letter Before Claim has been sent to the Prime Minster by a retired Scottish doctor, Dr. Andrew Watt.

The Letter Before Claim has also been sent to Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the Commission of the European Union.

Dr. Watt has asked Mr. Tusk and Mr. Juncker to use provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to bring the issues of European Union Law before the Court of Justice of the European Union for its adjudication.

Dr. Watt said, “I believe that the Prime Minister has made a basic mistake in her Brexit strategy. If the Judicial Review succeeds the Prime Minister’s Brexit strategy stated in her Florence speech will lie in tatters.”

“I read Paragraph 3 of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union as setting a time limit of two years for a Withdrawal Agreement to have taken effect, otherwise the United Kingdom has left the European Union. If a Withdrawal Agreement hasn’t taken effect by 29^th / 30^th March 2019 then the UK leaves the European Union. When the UK has left the European Union Article 50 no longer applies so there is no possibility of an Article 50 Withdrawal Agreement coming into force after the United Kingdom has left the European Union.”

“I have invited the Prime Minister to agree to a referral by the Divisional Court of the legal issues in dispute to the Court of Justice of the European Union under the procedure expressed in Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.”

“It is ultimately for the Court of Justice of the European Union to decide how Paragraph 3 of Article 50 should be interpreted.”

Note for Editors:

The Divisional Court was the Court which in October 2016 heard the first stage of the Gina Miller Judicial Review of Brexit.

The issues in Dr. Watt’s Letter Before Claim were not considered by either the Divisional Court or by the Supreme Court in Miller.

Dr. Watt asks that he be referred to simply as a “retired Scottish doctor” not least in the context of threats made to the safety and life of Gina Miller when she sought Judicial Review of another aspect of the Prime Minister’s Brexit strategy.

For similar reasons, Dr. Watt asks editors not to publish his home address.

Dr. Watt does not intend to give interviews before the Government has made its formal response to the Letter Before Claim. That formal response has been requested no later than 17.00 on Wednesday 11^th October but it is possible that the Government Legal Department may ask for an extension of the period for response.

Copies of the Letters Before Claim may be requested from killbrexitnow@gmail.com