The Scottish cross-bench peer who wrote Article 50 - the procedure by which the UK would leave the EU - believed it was "not irrevocable". In a BBC interview, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard said the UK could choose to stay in the EU even after exit negotiations had begun. He has also renewed calls for either parliament or the public to be given a chance to stop Brexit.
He explained: "It is not irrevocable. "You can change your mind while the process is going on. During that period, if a country were to decide actually we don't want to leave after all, everybody would be very cross about it being a waste of time. They might try to extract a political price but legally they couldn't insist that you leave."
Lord Kerr said he had never imagined the UK would make use of Article 50. He explained: "I thought the circumstances in which it would be used, if ever, would be when there was a coup in a member state and the EU suspended that country's membership. I thought that at that point the dictator in question might be so cross that he'd say 'right, I'm off' and it would be good to have a procedure under which he could leave."
A Department for Exiting the European Union spokesman said: "The UK voted to leave the European Union. The people have spoken and it is now the duty of the government to make sure that happens."
- What utter tosh. Slightly more people voted to Leave than Remain in one advisory opinion poll on one day, many have now changed their minds, so we must now commit ourselves to doing irreparable harm to the economy ? We must concede to the racists and xenophobes ? I think not.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-37852628
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