Key facts you need to know
- Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon gives any EU member the right to quit
- It became lae in 2009
- During the Conservative Party Conference last year, Prime Minister Theresa May said she will trigger Article 50 in March 2017
- If she triggers it, the UK will officially leave the EU by April 2019
- Once set in motion, it cannot be stopped except by unanimous consent of all member states
- In November 2016, the High Court ruled that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without MPs voting on the matter first. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling in January 2017
- Article 50 sets out the process of leaving the EU and states: “Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.”
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