[Glen]

There's a loophole in Article 50 that lets Britain back into the EU whenever we want

We asked our witnesses whether it was possible to reverse a decision to withdraw. Both agreed that a Member State could legally reverse a decision to withdraw from the EU at any point before the date on which the withdrawal agreement took effect. Once the withdrawal agreement had taken effect, however, withdrawal was final. Sir David told us: “It is absolutely clear that you cannot be forced to go through with it if you do not want to: for example, if there is a change of Government.” Professor Wyatt supported this view with the following legal analysis:

“There is nothing in the wording to say that you cannot. It is in accord with the general aims of the Treaties that people stay in rather than rush out of the exit door. There is also the specific provision in Article 50 to the effect that, if a State withdraws, it has to apply to rejoin de novo. That only applies once you have left. If you could not change your mind after a year of thinking about it, but before you had withdrawn, you would then have to wait another year, withdraw and then apply to join again. That just does not make sense. Analysis of the text suggests that you are entitled to change your mind.”

... There is nothing in Article 50 formally to prevent a Member State from reversing its decision to withdraw in the course of the withdrawal negotiations. The political consequences of such a change of mind would, though, be substantial.

So, to sum up, even if the UK triggers Article 50 we can still cancel that decision if, for instance, there was a change of government. But the government would be up against the clock: It would have to make that U-turn before the rest of the EU voted on the Article 50 request, and before the two-year deadline elapsed.

Given how long the exit process is likely to take, and how unpredictable UK politics has suddenly become, don't rule out a change of government or a change of heart.

[Thompson_NCL]

Isn't this fairly obvious? We are still members of the EU until we finally exit it, at any time up to that point, we can cancel our exit negotiations. This comes as news to no one.

[Beren]

So, to sum up, even if the UK triggers Article 50 we can still cancel that decision if, for instance, there was a change of government.

This should come as news to anyone who believed triggering Article 50 would be a point of no return.

[Atlantis]

It is possible to reverse the decision after signing article 50. It is even possible to extend the two year period set for divorce talk. Thereafter, to define a new trade relation could take as much as 10 years. That has been said again and again.

In view of all this, the question is why does PM May not want to sign article 50 now? Talk about wanting to define a negotiating strategy isn't credible since a new trade relationship will not be negotiated until much later. The only question to be answered now is: do you want out or not?

The only possible explanation for the delaying tactics is that she's trying to exit Brexit.

[layman]

She is cracking down on student visas - announced today

Strange move if she was planning to deny millions of europeans access. Denying non-eu students was always her go to strategy before she became prime minister. Idiot of course considering how much they pay and that the tory policy is for universitys to fund themselves more

[Glen]

One problem with the current policy is that it provides a back-door for illegal non-EU workers entering the UK. Though I cannot put my finger on an article, I think there has been news in the last decade about some universities not showing due-diligence in their own admissions and attendance checks.

For those who do not manipulate the system, the current policy is already very strict. Its non-EU students who pay the highest fees privately.