Announcement on A50 trigger and repeal of ECA 1972

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Today (Sunday 2 October 2016) the Prime Minister (Theresa May) announced at the Conservative party conference that the United Kingdom will invoke Article 50 of the TEU (which triggers a member state’s exit process from the EU) within 6 months, i.e. no later than the end of March 2017. After that the UK has 2 years to negotiate the terms of its relationship with the EU.  The judicial review proceedings currently pending concern whether Parliament should have a role in that process (see previous blogs) of triggering Article 50.
The Prime Minister has also said that the Government will introduce a “Great Repeal Bill” to Parliament in the next Queen’s Speech (April or May 2017) which will (if passed) repeal the European Communities Act 1972, which gives effect to EU law in the UK.  This will not enable Parliament to reverse the Article 50 process in any event (whether or not Article 50 is revokable or not, as to which see here) because Article 50 will (on this announced timetable) have been triggered before the Great Repeat Bill has passed through Parliament.
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About Maya Lester QC

Maya Lester QC has a wide ranging practice in public law, European law, competition law, international law, human rights & civil liberties. She has a particular expertise in sanctions. As the most recent (2016) Chambers & Partners directory put it, she "owns the world of sanctions". She spent 2011-12 in New York at Columbia Law School lecturing and writing on sanctions. She represents and advises hundreds of companies and individuals before the European and English courts and has acted in most of the leading cases, including Kadi, Tay Za, Central Bank of Iran, NITC and IRISL.