Thread by @Raphael_Hogarth

Quick thread on an interesting feature of the EU (Withdrawal) Act, pointed out to me by @woodstockjag, which I had not appreciated. The Government can request an extension of the Article 50 period without asking Parliament.
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Section 1 of the Act provides that the European Communities Act 1972, which gives effect to EU law in the UK, is repealed on exit day. Section 20(1) defines exit day as 29 March 2019.
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A minister can change exit day under Section 20(4) - but this is subject to Parliament's approval under Schedule 7, Part 2, Paragraph 14. I had previously thought this meant that the Government needed Parliament's agreement to ask for an extension of the Article 50 period.
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It doesn't. Section 25(4) of the Act says that a minister has the power to decide when some parts of the Act come into force. Section 1, which repeals the ECA, is among them. There's no reference to any procedure for parliamentary approval for the exercise of that power.
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So suppose a no-deal is looming at the end of March and HMG wants more time, but it cannot find a majority for an Article 50 extension. It can ask for one anyway, and just decline to to bring into force the bit of the Withdrawal Act that repeals the ECA.
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I.e., parliamentary approval is not legally necessary for Article 50 extension

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As @GeorgePeretzQC and @Paul___Skinner point put below, there are strong arguments that requesting an extension without parliamentary consent would be unlawful on *other* grounds 👇