Anti-Brexit campaigners ramped up calls today for a second referendum after European judges ruled Britain can unilaterally slam the brakes on quitting the EU.
The European Court of Justice decided that the UK does not need to plead with Brussels to be allowed to revoke Article 50 which currently means the country will leave the European bloc on March 29.
Cabinet minister Michael Gove swiftly brushed aside the emergency judgement, insisting that the UK will brexit in four months’ time.
But the ruling buoyed campaigners for a “People’s Vote”, many of who hope it will overturn the June 2016 referendum result.
Tottenham Labour MP David Lammy tweeted: “Brexit is not inevitable.
“We can revoke Article 50. After two and a half years of failed negotiations, broken promises and lies, it must be up to the British people to decide in a #PeoplesVote.”
Bracknell Tory MP Phillip Lee added: “We chose to put a political gun to our head nearly two years ago with Article 50.
“In view of the current circumstances, we should remove that gun.”
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stressed: “So an extension of Article 50 to allow time for another vote, followed by revocation of Article 50 if the outcome is Remain seems to be an option that is now open to the House of Commons.”
However, Environment Secretary Mr Gove insisted: “We voted very clearly - 17.4 million people sent a clear message that we wanted to leave the European Union and that means also leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
“So, this case is all very well but it doesn’t alter either the referendum vote or the clear intention of the Government to make sure that we leave on March 29.”
Two recent polls, though, show there is now a double digit lead for people who believe voting to quit the EU was the wrong decision, compared to those who still think it was right.
Other surveys show a similar yet not so stark trend towards Remain since the 52/48 per cent vote to Leave in June 2016.
The ECJ ruling was a blow to Brussels which had argued that Britain could only go back on Article 50, which triggered the two-year process of quitting the EU, if it had the backing of all the bloc’s other states.
The judges stressed: “In today’s judgment, the full court has ruled that, when a member state has notified the European Council of its intention to withdraw from the European Union, as the UK has done, that member state is free to revoke unilaterally that notification.
In a referendum between leaving the EU on Theresa May’s terms or remaining in the EU, Londoners would vote to stay by a clear majority of 54 per cent to 22.
Prof Philip Cowley, of QMUL’s Mile End Institute, said: “With the exception of the over-65s age group, Londoners strongly want a referendum and would vote overwhelmingly to remain in the EU rather than accept the Government’s deal. Among young people, the support for a vote and for Remain is more than five to one.”
The legal case was brought by a cross-party group of Scottish politicians, Labour MEPs Catherine Stihler and David Martin, SNP MP Joanna Cherry and MEP Alyn Smith, and Green MSPs Andy Wightman and Ross Greer, together with lawyer Jolyon Maugham QC, director of the Good Law Project.
It was originally heard by the Court of Session in Edinburgh and two attempts by the UK Government to appeal against the referral to the European Court were rejected.
The case will be referred back to the Court of Session, where judges are expected to “frank” the decision and declare the European Court’s answer to be the law on the matter.
