Thread by @A50Challenge

Important Thread.

Until now we’ve underestimated the importance of this case (Shindler) which is being brought before the EU General Court (GC). It seeks to declare the Brexit process illegal because people were inappropriately disenfranchised. 1/

curia.europa.eu/juris/document…

Because (as is usual for Theresa May’s administration) the Government has been saying different things in London & Brussels, the case will look very different to the General Court in Luxembourg than it does to us in the UK 2/.

In the UK we know that the Referendum was not the decision, just a consultation that Parliament decided we had to go through first. It didn’t matter too much to the Courts who voted in the referendum because it only had political, not legal, effect.3/

When Shindler brought his case in the UK, the Court ruled against him, because the referendum vote was not determinative. The Court refused to refer questions about whether EU Law applied to the referendum franchise to the CJEU, declaring that Article 50.1 did not apply. 4/

However, the Govt has told the EU institutions in its A50 notice that the referendum result, as confirmed by EUNoWA, was the actual decision, not just a consultative exercise that Parliament decided had to be gone through before the decision was made. 5/

So Shindler’s case is proceeding before the General Court on the basis that, contrary to what the Govt is saying in the #A50Challenge case, the referendum result is the decision. 6/

Effectively the Shindler case now before the EU Court is a rerun of his UK case, except this time on the basis that the referendum is decisive. EU law, including the principle of equality, will be relevant & an EU Court gets to decide whether A50(1) has legal effect. 7/

The Govt has not intervened in the EU Schindler case, because that would make matters worse. It cannot win a case in the UK on the basis of one set of legal arguments & expect to win a case in Luxembourg by making completely contradictory claims. 8/

If the EU General Court learns in the Shindler hearing that the Govt is claiming in the UK Courts that the UK hasn’t made a constitutionally valid decision to leave the EU & doesn’t need to, then if the UK Court doesn’t pull the plug on Brexit, the EU Court might well do it. 9/

So, you see, the Shindler case is dynamite 💥🌪☄️ 10/

Support #A50Challenge. Stop this Brexit process before we suffer the national disgrace of a European Court stopping it for us.

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