A thousand lawyers send letter to Cameron over EU Referendum

[BrexitThunderbolt]

It starts:
TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND ALL MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

9 July 2016

Dear Prime Minister and Members of Parliament

Re: Brexit

We are all individual members of the Bars of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. We are writing to propose a way forward which reconciles the legal, constitutional and political issues which arise following the Brexit referendum.

The result of the referendum must be acknowledged. Our legal opinion is that the referendum is advisory.

The European Referendum Act does not make it legally binding. We believe that in order to trigger Article 50, there must first be primary legislation. It is of the utmost importance that the legislative process is informed by an objective understanding as to the benefits, costs and risks of triggering Article 50.

link to the whole letter here

I am particularly pleased to see this included in their reasons for writing as they do:
There is evidence that the referendum result was influenced by misrepresentations of fact and promises that could not be delivered.

Since the result was only narrowly in favour of Brexit, it cannot be discounted that the misrepresentations and promises were a decisive or contributory factor in the result.

[TomHiddlestonsDignity]

Thanks for sharing. I'm so glad that the people who have the power to do things, are doing things, if that makes sense.

[ivykaty44]

Whether it is legal or not legal, the country had a vote and the country voted to leave.

How can any government now not implement what the majority voted for?

I say this as a remain voter that wants to stay part of the EU

[BrexitThunderbolt]

ivykaty I think these are legitimate reasons for a start:

There is evidence that the referendum result was influenced by misrepresentations of fact and promises that could not be delivered.

Since the result was only narrowly in favour of Brexit, it cannot be discounted that the misrepresentations and promises were a decisive or contributory factor in the result.

[UnderTheGreenwoodTree]

I sincerely hope the govt takes this seriously.

Particularly an independent investigation into the the benefits, risks and costs of Brexit before making plans. This is absolutely essential IMO.

[Peregrina]

Why should they listen to 1000 lawyers, when they are not prepared to take the views of 16 million people into consideration?

The answer may well depend on who gets elected as PM. If it's Theresa May, that would be a useful delaying clause. If it's Andrea Leadsom, she will try to demonstrate how strong she is by invoking Article 50 straight away, because she, as a mum, knows more than a 1000 experts.

[TomHiddlestonsDignity]

Fingers crossed that the mum thing has damaged her chances then peregrina.

[A4Document]

the referendum result was influenced by misrepresentations of fact and promises that could not be delivered.

A deliberately biased statement. They "forget" to say there were misrepresentations on both sides, so such "influence" would of course work both ways.

[wowfudge]

This is good.

Out of interest, has anyone, in the aftermath of the referendum, asked Remainers whether they would still vote to remain?

[BrexitThunderbolt]

A4 A deliberately biased statement. They "forget" to say there were misrepresentations on both sides, so such "influence" would of course work both ways.

If you re-read what they wrote: There is evidence that the referendum result was influenced by misrepresentations of fact and promises that could not be delivered. They have not said 'the leave campaign misrepresented fact/promises...'
It's curious that your bias tells you they did.

[BrexitThunderbolt]

Also from the letter:
This is presumably because the result was only advisory. The outcome of the exit process will affect a generation of people who were not old enough to vote in the referendum.
The positions of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar require special consideration, since their populations did not vote to leave the EU.

I think these are incredibly important points.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

I wonder how many of those "lawyers'" names are in fact from Vatican City, South Georgia, North Korea, etc, etc ...

[ButteredToastAndStrawberryJam]

Lawyers are bound to be pissed off, a lot of their practices will become obsolete.

[Radiatorvalves]

On the contrary most lawyers will be busier than ever for the foreseeable. I speak as one of them.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

You beat me to it, Radiatorvalves

[ButteredToastAndStrawberryJam]

Someone on another thread was pissed because they'd just finished a degree in EU law.

[Lighteningirll]

The rich and powerful want to stay in the EU hardly news to those of us who loath the gravy train.

[A4Document]

It's curious that your bias tells you they did.

No Brexit, it's clearly referring to the "leave" side because it says the result was influenced by promises made. This implies that if the result had been different, the negative influence wouldn't have been there, and that's not true.

[roundaboutthetown]

You'd have to be a complete idiot to think that lawyers won't be kept unbelievably busy rewriting and re-interpreting new legislation and giving opinions on what still does and doesn't apply, and where EU law still does or does not impact on us one way or another, and what does and does not take its place when it isn't obvious.

Decisions based on lies are always faulty, regardless of who did the lying. Just look at what the electorate did to the Lib Dems when they judged them to have lied about tuition fees in order to get votes... People were led to expect both immigration controls and free trade by lying twats and they are not going to be happy when they don't get both.

[Grassgreendashhabi]

Have you seen that Theresa May has said britex mean out!

Cameron said britex mean out

I think they understand that the majority of the country voted out or chose not to vote. Hence the remain petition fell on deaf ears

When will you get it. Britex is happening .

[BrexitThunderbolt]

Fine, if that's your interpretation marble. IMO the 'result' is the overall outcome, including votes for and against.

[Grassgreendashhabi]

And let's face it if the government really did not want to do it they wouldn't. But they are so surely that speaks volumes in itself

[peggyundercrackers]

I agree with Peregrina

why would the govt. listen to only 1000 people when 16 million people wanted something different? the people have spoken and the govt. need to follow through on the vote no matter what - that's how democracy works...

why are people still bleating on about staying in the EU anyway? we are going to leave, get used to it...

[BrexitThunderbolt]

Grassgreen - did you seriously expect that there would be no challenges to the result when something so momentous is at stake?

[Grassgreendashhabi]

Did you really think that the government wouldn't listen to the majority

[BrexitThunderbolt]

I expect the government to do what's best for the country and to act within the law.