‘Brexit irrevocable’ once it is triggered

The process of Britain leaving the European Union is irrevocable once it has been triggered, a government minister said yesterday.Prime Minister Theresa May says she will invoke Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty by the end of March, beginning two years of formal divorce talks.Lawyers for the government have said that, once started, the process is irrevocable, but some EU leaders say Britain can change its mind and a legal challenge to determine whether it can be reversed has been filed with an Irish court.“People can take cases to court. My understanding is it is irrevocable and when we press the button that will go forward,” Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show when asked about whether Britain could reverse the process.The British parliament’s upper chamber is likely to attach conditions to legislation giving Prime Minister Theresa May the power to trigger the country’s exit from the European Union, a former minister from the opposition Labour Party said on Sunday.Earlier this month, May won approval for the legislation from parliament’s lower chamber, the House of Commons.The unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, is due to begin debating the bill on Monday.The legislation passed through the Commons without being amended, but it could face a tougher ride through the Lords, where May’s Conservative Party does not have a majority.Amendments aimed at giving EU citizens in Britain guaranteed rights post-Brexit, and calling for parliament to have a vote on the final Brexit deal are expected to attract the most support.Asked during an interview on BBC TV whether it was his view the government could be defeated on these two issues, Peter Mandelson, a Labour member of the House of Lords said: “I think it is.I think there is a strong body of opinion across party and amongst independent peers as well that both these issues are very serious.”May has said she plans to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty by the end of March and that she expects to get the legislation through parliament in time to do so.If the Lords succeeds in attaching any conditions to the legislation, the amended bill will have to go back to the Commons for its approval.The House of Commons has already rejected amendments on both issues.The legislation will be passed back and forth between the upper and lower houses until they both agree.“At the of end of the day the House of Commons must prevail because it is the elected chamber but I hope the House of Lords will not throw in the towel early,” Mandelson said.Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss told the BBC she expected the Lords to get on and pass the legislation.“It is a simple bill on do we trigger Article 50, the British people have voted for that, they were clear in the referendum and the House of Lords now needs to get on with it which is what I understand they will be doing,” she said.“I fully expect the House of Lords will recognise the will of the people and the will of the House of Commons, which was overwhelming, and pass that legislation.” l Pro-EU politicians need to show more courage in opposing Brexit, Peter Mandelson has said, as he urged the public to donate in support of Tony Blair’s call for an uprising against leaving the bloc.Mandelson, a peer and one of the architects of New Labour, said many people were feeling bulldozed into a Brexit they did not vote for, and the government’s pursuit of leaving the EU at any cost must be challenged.As the Brexit bill heads to the House of Lords this week, Mandelson also said he believed the government could be defeated in the upper chamber on the issues of a meaningful parliamentary vote at the end of negotiations and guaranteed rights for EU citizens in the UK.“There is strong body of opinion across the parties and independent peers as well that both these issues are very serious,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.He said the most crucial issue was the ability of MPs and peers to look at the deal Theresa May strikes with Europe and turn it down.“If it’s not good for Britain, send the government back to the negotiating table,” he said.It comes amid reports that up to six Labour peers are thinking of giving up the party whip in the Lords and may unofficially follow the Liberal Democrat whip because of the party’s support for Brexit.Mandelson said it was not his advice to support the anti-Brexit Lib Dems but for people to “put pressure on parliamentarians from all parties” to oppose the government’s plans.“[We are] trying to instil a bit of courage in the Tory MPs — most of whom seem to have capitulated to the ideologues — pressure on Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens, to say you’ve got to speak up for us when the time comes,” he said.Amid depressed poll ratings for his own party and Jeremy Corbyn, the peer said he believed Labour “can recover its ground but to be successful it must demonstrate strength, clarity, sureness of touch”.