EU referendum: Law firm readies itself for Article 50 challenge
A London law firm revealed today that it was gearing itself up to challenge government should it try to trigger Article 50 in an unconstitutional manner.
Mishcon de Reya said that, on behalf of an anonymous group of clients, it had started to pull together a team to potentially head to court, if government were to attempt to start the Article 50 process without an appropriate Act of Parliament being passed first.
"We must ensure that the government follows the correct process to have legal certainty and protect the UK Constitution and the sovereignty of Parliament in these unprecedented circumstances," said Kasra Nouroozi, partner at Mishcon de Reya. "The result of the referendum is not in doubt, but we need a process that follows UK law to enact it.
"The outcome of the referendum itself is not legally binding and for the current or future Prime Minister to invoke Article 50 without the approval of parliament is unlawful."
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The law firm also revealed that it had been in talks with lawyers for government since last Monday to find out what they thought the legal process of leaving the EU would entail.
The firm has stressed that these actions are not an attempt to overthrow the vote or ignore the interests of those who voted to leave the EU, but are taking place to make sure that proper legal processes are not being undermined.