Opponents of Brexit claim that because the European Union referendum result is advisory it must be approved by a vote in the Commons before Article 50 – the formal mechanism to leave the European Union – is triggered.
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The Prime Minister faces legal challenges over whether she can begin the process without MPs’ approval, but the Daily Telegraph has reported that she has been informed by government lawyers that no approval is necessary.
A Downing Street source said: “The Prime Minister has been absolutely clear that the British public have voted and now she will get on with delivering Brexit”.
“We will vote in Parliament to block any attempt to invoke Article 50 until Theresa May commits to a second referendum or a general election on whatever the European Union exit deal emerges at the end of the process”.
May will invoke Article 50 without consent of parliament, in a move that will be hailed by eurosceptics.
May will not offer opponents the chance to stall the withdrawal and has consulted lawyers who say she has the power to invoke the exit without a parliamentary vote, the conservative newspaper said. Meanwhile Gus O’Donnell, the former head of the civil service, said Brexit was not inevitable and Britain could still remain a part of a changed EU.
The prominent Brexiteer said the United Kingdom should not necessarily seek to remain a member of the single market as such a move would involve surrendering control to Brussels.
Those opposed to leaving the European Union have said that the referendum is legally only advisory and the approval of parliament is necessary to formally take the United Kingdom out of the now 28-member bloc.
“We can’t do anything about immigration from within the European Union until we leave”, Mr Davies told the BBC’s Good Morning Wales radio programme on Thursday.
He said: “I think we would like to have, and I think it would be in the interests of the European Union even more than it might be for the United Kingdom, to maintain a trading relationship with the UK”.
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Mr Smith said: “Theresa May is clearly running scared from parliamentary scrutiny of her Brexit negotiations”.
