The Road to Brexit: Ten UK Procedures towards Leaving the EU
| Autor | Polly Ruth Polak |
| Cargo | PhD candidate, University of Salamanca. |
| Páginas | 22-44 |
1
Cuadernos de Gibraltar – Gibraltar Reports
Número 2/Issue # 2, 2018-2019, 1303
ISSN 2444-7382
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.25267/Cuad_Gibraltar.2019.i3.1303
CUADERNOS DE GIBRALTAR – GIBRALTAR REPORTS
Num 3, 2018-2019 | ISSN 2444-7382
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.25267/Cuad_Gibraltar.2019.i3.1303
THE ROAD TO BREXIT:
TEN UK PROCEDURES TOWARDS LEAVING THE EU
Polly Ruth POLAK1
I.- THE DECISION TO WITHDRAW AND THE MILLER CASE - II. THE
EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018. III.- THE REVOCATION
OF THE NOTIFICATION OF WITHDRAWAL: WIGHTMAN. IV.- THE UK-
EU 2018 DRAFT WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT. V.- THE 2019 EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS. V.- THE PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT AND
THE CHERRY CASE. VII.- THE “UPDATED” WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT.
VIII.- THE WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT BILL (WAB). IX.- THE DECEMBER
UK ELECTIONS. X.- THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2020
ABSTRACT: This paper offers a concise explanation of each of the ten most relevant legal and
procedural issues, in their political context and in chronological order, that have arisen in the Uni-
ted Kingdom since the British voted to activate the EU’s new and hitherto unused Article 50 TEU
withdrawal clause.
KEY WORDS: Brexit, Withdrawal from the European Unión, Article 50 TEU, United Kingdom,
Negotiations
EL CAMINO HACIA EL BREXIT: DIEZ PROCEDIMIENTOS BIRTÁNICOS PARA
ABANDONAR LA UNIÓN EUROPEA
RESUMEN: En este trabajo se ofrece una explicación concisa de cada una de las diez cuestiones
jurídicas y procedimentales más importantes, en su contexto político y en orden cronológico, que
han surgido en el Reino Unido desde que los británicos votaron para activar la nueva y hasta ahora
no utilizada cláusula de retirada del artículo 50 del Tratado de la Unión Europea.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Brexit, Retirada de la Unión Europea, Artículo 50 TUE, Reino Unido,
negociaciones.
1 PhD candidate, University of Salamanca.
Citation: POLAK, P. R, «The Road to Brexit: Ten UK Procedures towards Leaving the EU», Cuadernos de
Gibraltar–Gibraltar Reports, num. 3, 2018-2019.
Received: 24 December 2019.
Accepted: 28 March 2020.
CGIB03-polak.indd 1 12/04/2020 17:49:41
2
Cuadernos de Gibraltar – Gibraltar Reports
Número 3/Issue # 3, 2018-2019, 1303
ISSN 2444-7382
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.25267/Cuad_Gibraltar.2019.i3.1303
The Road to Brexit: Ten UK Procedures towards Leaving the EU
I. THE DECISION TO WITHDRAW AND THE MILLER CASE
As everyone knows, on 23 June 2016 a referendum was held in the Uni-
ted Kingdom (UK) on whether this Member State should remain in or leave
the European Union (EU). A majority of 51.9% of those voting on a 72%
turn out voted to leave. Legally, the result was not binding as the European
Union Referendum Act 20122 provided no detail on the consequences of the
referendum result,3 but the Government pledged to honour the result and it
has since been treated as politically and democratically binding. Immediately
after the referendum, Mr David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister (PM)
as he had campaigned to remain on the new terms for UK membership he
had negotiated with Brussels.4 Mrs Theresa May, who had been Home Secre-
tary, was chosen as leader of the Conservative party and took his place. Her
which, widely criticised as a meaningless tautology, was in fact a very serious
indication that the UK was on the verge of the unprecedented invocation of
Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU).5
The machinery for leaving the European Union is contained in Article 50
withdrawal from the Union, the conditions are a matter for that Member Sta-
tes’ law in accord with its “own constitutional requirements”.6 Once a Mem-
ber State has decided to withdraw, it must notify the European Council of
its intention. What is not so clear in the case of the United Kingdom is what
those constitutional requirements to decide to leave the Union and notify that
2 UK European Union Referendum Act 2015 c.36.
3
CHALMERS
, D., “Gina Miller and the last Gasp of Parliamentary Sovereignty?”, Maastricht
Journal of European and Comparative Law, vol. 24, no. 1 (2017), p. 4.
4 Conclusions of the European Council of 18-19 February 2016, A New Settlement for the
United Kingdom within the European Union, EUCO 1/16.
5 A concise look at the back story of the 2016 referendum can be found in
WALLACE
, H.,
“Heading for the Exit: the United Kingdom’s Troubled Relationship with the European
Union”, Journal of Contemporary European Research, vol. 12, no. 4 (2016), pp. 809-815; whilst a
running commentary on UK progress towards Brexit is offered in the Editorials of European
Public Law, vol. 22, no. 3 (2016) to vol. 24, no. 4 (2018). Finally, for an interesting analysis on
the suitability of using a referendum to resolve the “British question” read
GOSALBO BONO
,
R., “Brexit o Bremain”, Revista General de Derecho Europeo, vol. 39 (2016), pp. 1-23.
6
CRAIG
, P., “Brexit: A Drama in Six Acts”, European Law Review, vol. 41, no. 4 (2016), p. 29.
CGIB03-polak.indd 2 12/04/2020 17:49:41
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