Theresa May’s Brexit timetable could be derailed by legal challenge against historic vote from pro-EU campaigners
They want the courts to declare that the historic vote to leave needs Parliament’s backing
THE PRIME Minister’s timetable for taking Britain out of the European union could be derailed by a legal challenge launched against Brexit.
Pro-EU campaigners are attempting to have the courts declare that the historic vote to leave needs Parliament’s backing before Theresa May can trigger Article 50.
They have already raised £32,000 towards their £50,000 initial legal costs, and are confident their “People’s Challenge” will go ahead.
The case is heading to the High Court after the grassroots group claimed the rights they enjoy as British citizens inside the EU cannot be taken away unless the Acts of Parliament giving effect to EU law are repealed by Parliament.
Any vote in the House of Commons on Brexit is unlikely to be passed, with around 480 MPs having backed Remain ahead of the June 23 vote.
The House of Lords is also pro-EU, meaning that if invoking Article 50 does need Parliamentary approval then it could take years, or possibly never at all, ruining the PM’s preferred timetable to exiting the trading bloc.
Mrs May is expected to start the two-year process next year, seeing the UK leave the EU in 2019, and is expected to use the Royal Prerogative to kickstart it.
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But the lawyers representing the campaigners say they plan to prevent that, calling it a “courageous and a critical” challenge.
John Halford, a partner at law firm Bindmans, said: “The support the public have shown so far for this case is heartening.
“It demonstrates that people feel profoundly troubled by the prospect of having rights they have had for four decades stripped away in the democratic vacuum that will be created if the Prime Minister is allowed to use the Royal Prerogative to invoke Article 50.
“The People's Challenge group's stand against that happening is courageous and a critical means to ensure ordinary British citizens’ voices are heard and given real weight by the courts on this issue.”
A special summit in Naples is being held by EU leaders Francois Hollande, Matteo Renzi and Angela Merkel, where they will discuss the EU’s approach to Brexit.
And next month politicians from all 27 other EU countries will meet without the UK in Bratislava next month for talks on the issue.