Three prominent Green politicians – including the party’s co-leader Jonathan Bartley – are joining a legal challenge in Dublin to establish whether Brexit can be reversed.

The ambitious, crowd-funded case is formally being taken against the Irish government but the aim is to ask Irish judges to refer the issue to the European court of justice in Luxembourg.

The question of whether it is possible to revoke the decision to trigger article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which will formally begin the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, has become more urgent now that Theresa May has confirmed that parliament will be given a second vote on the final shape of any Brexit deal.



The case is being led by the London-based barrister Jolyon Maugham QC, who has rights of audience in Ireland. The participation of the Green party is in keeping with its Europhile stance.

Caroline Lucas, the party’s other co-leader and MP for Brighton Pavilion, announced earlier on Thursday that she would urge Labour MPs to join her in voting against the “premature triggering” of article 50 by parliament.

As well as Bartley, the other applicants in the Dublin case are Steven Agnew, a Green party member of the Northern Irish Stormont assembly, and Keith Taylor, the Green party MEP for the South East of England.

The legal challenge seeks a referral to the court of justice on the question of whether article 50, once triggered, can be unilaterally revoked by the UK government without requiring consent from all other 27 EU member states. The Luxembourg court is the ultimate judicial authority on EU law.



The Green party campaigned for remain in the EU referendum and Bartley said the Dublin case was about giving the British public a legal safety net.

“Any deal that will be negotiated around leaving the European Union would have consequences for the country for decades to come,” Bartley said. “The British people must not be kept in the dark. They must know what control and what options the country really has. This is about putting power in Britain’s hands.

“We’re asking the courts to give everyone clarity on the legal question of whether, in the event of things going badly wrong, or the country being driven over a cliff edge, the government would be able to revoke article 50.”

Taylor said: “I believe Theresa May and Philip Hammond’s proposals to send the country hurtling towards an extreme Brexit will see Britain as the ultimate loser in a global race to the bottom on everything from environmental regulations to workers’ rights.



“The plan looks bad for Britain, the environment, jobs, and, ultimately, the British people. If the electorate reaches the same conclusion when the details become clearer, they must have the choice of putting a stop to the process.”

Northern Ireland voted 55.8% to 44.2% in favour of remaining in the EU in the June referendum. Agnew said: “Any deal on the Irish border will have massive implications across the island and it is vital that the people of Northern Ireland have a say on the final proposal.

“For that to be meaningful, the option to remain must still be on the table. Otherwise the UK has no leverage in article 50 negotiations, as the current assumption is that if we like the Brexit deal, we leave, and if we don’t like it, we leave anyway.”

Jolyon Maugham QC said: “In 2016, the country looked at the evidence and decided to leave the EU. I respect that decision: article 50 should be triggered. But no one knows what lies around the corner.

“It’s in our interests that we have the option of remaining if new evidence shows that leaving is damaging people’s job security or rights at work or our ability to fund the NHS or national security.

“Establishing that the article 50 notification can be revoked gives us a free option in an uncertain world. Whether to exercise that option is for the electorate. But no one can deny that our national interest is served by us having it.”

The summons in the case will be filed with the Irish high court on Friday. A full hearing of the claim is expected in March or April.