By Kieran Laird

In its recent judgment in Wightman and others v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2018] CSIH 62, the Court of Session has referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) the question of whether the UK can unilaterally revoke its notification of its intention to leave the EU Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU).

THE BACKGROUND
The petition was initially lodged on 19 December 2017 by a cross-party group of elected representatives including MPs, MEPs and MSPs. The petitioners sought a ruling from the CJEU to determine the question whether the Article 50 notification can be revoked unilaterally by the UK, without approval from the other EU member states, in advance of the expiry of the two year notice period.