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Could we, as John Major is once again urging, revoke and reconsider? THREAD.
The legal purist's answer is 'no'. The revocation of your Article 50 notice must be an expression of your concluded decision to remain in the EU. /1
But, of course, lawyers draw these bright lines and real life walks all over them. So let's test the point. /2
'Does the fact that you've revoked your Article 50 notice mean you can't send in another one in the future?' you ask the legal purist. 'No,' he says, 'so long as the future Article 50 notice was not contemplated when you revoked'.' /3
But, 'Ah,' you say, 'Nothing is going to change the present reality that the UK has an ambivalent relationship with the EU. And even MPs voting for revocation will express many different views of the future.' /4
Confronted with that truth, and asked 'does that mean the UK can't revoke?' the purist lawyer moves uncomfortably in his chair. /5
There are a whole series of further torments you can cause the purist lawyer. But let's stop there and acknowledge that the law, just like real life, has to deal with uncertainties. /6
The real life appeal of 'revoke and reconsider' is considerable. Removing the distraction of the ticking clock creates time and space for us to reflect on what, collectively, we really want. /7
A national conversation is what a statesman or woman would have done before enacting a Referendum. What a tragedy we didn't. /8
A national Commission - led by good faith actors from Remain and Leave and Left and Right - should not be beyond us. And it holds open the prospect of a national healing too. /9
We might at the same time consider (desperately needed) constitutional reform. And it would create the space for us to focus on a fairer national settlement. /10
If the conclusion was that we should leave the EU then so be it. We would retrigger, with a plan upon which we had agreed, and go. /11
Let me return to the question with which I started. If the Government and/or Parliament were to choose to follow this course, to revoke and reconsider, would European law prevent it? I firmly believe it would not. /12
John Major's call - echoed by many others - here. (For what it's worth it is also my preferred outcome.) /ENDS 
