Irish High Court questioned over legal challenge to revoke Brexit

Lawyers are drafting a new lawsuit to challenge the terms of Britain's departure from the European Union – this time in the Irish courts.

The application, spearheaded by Jolyon Maugham QC, will focus on the issue of whether once Article 50 is triggered, it can be reversed.

It will also seek clarification on whether, when Britain leaves the EU, it automatically leaves the European Economic Area (EEA), more commonly known as free movement of goods and people within the single market.

Maugham is crowdfunding the legal challenge and is aiming to raise £70,000 for the campaign.

He said he was bringing the case in Ireland because he believed Westminster breached EU treaties by wrongly excluding the countries from the rest of the UK from meetings of the EU Council.

Once the case is brought, Maugham will be seeking to escalate the case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

He said the issue of whether triggering Article 50 was reversible was important because it allowed Parliament to better dictate the government's negotiations for departure from the European Union.

Maugham said: "If we cannot withdraw our Article 50 notification, then Parliament will have to accept those agreements [between government and Europe] – whatever their content.

"Like a Model T Ford, it will be able to choose any colour it wants, but only as long as it's black.

"The government will have free reign to do exactly what it wants. There will be no control by Parliament.

"But if the notification can be withdrawn, Parliament will have a choice: it will be free to reject that deal. And, because the Government knows this, and because it wishes to deliver the result of the Referendum, it will have to try to do the deal that Parliament wants or it will risk the possibility that Parliament throws the deal out.

"So it is only by establishing whether we can revoke Article 50 that Parliament can fulfil its obligation to deliver a Brexit for the 100 percent."

He added that once Article 50 had been triggered, establishing whether that involves leaving the single market was important as this has not yet been legally decided.

Maugham argued: "No one knows whether, by triggering Article 50, we also commit ourselves to leaving the EEA. That is a question only the Court of Justice of the European Union can answer.

"Staying in the single market will deliver free movement rights for ourselves and our children, along with the many economic advantages to being inside the largest market in the world, one that is on our doorsteps. It is important that we understand whether, in a post Article 50 world, we remain in it."