Dear Department for Exiting the European Union,

Please can you confirm what advice you, or the wider UK government have received in relation to withdrawal or reversing Article 50.

Please set out the source of each opinions, and the detailed opinion given in each instance.

I would be grateful if you can confirm if there are any expert opinions on this matter that the government has received that are not in the public domain, or covered in your response.

Yours faithfully,

Graham Gowland

Dear DEXEU Freedom of Information Team Mailbox,

Thank you for your response. It is a rather wide question, but I would like to simplify my request to the following:

Any legal ‘opinion’ or ‘advice’ report commissioned or instructed by the government from a practicing lawyer presented in the form of a report relating specifically to the reversal or withdrawal of the United Kingdoms invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. Should there be many such reports I would be happy to receive only the last two.

Any legal ‘opinion’ or ‘advice’ report provided to the UK Government by the European Union presented in the form of a report relating specifically to the reversal or withdrawal of the United Kingdoms invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. Should there be many such reports I would be happy to receive only the last two.

I would also like to see the most recent report presented by or to the Permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the European Union relating specifically to the reversal or withdrawal of the United Kingdoms invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. I am asking only for a documented report specifically covering this matter, not the wider range of information from general emails, letters or held in notes from meetings.

Should the above still be considered too onerous for a FOI request or otherwise excluded, I would ask if there have been any significant change to the governments views set out in the House of Commons briefing paper by Vaughne Miller, Arabella Lang, and Jack Simson-Caird, ‘Brexit: Article 50 TEU and the EU Court’, House of Commons Library Briefing Paper no. 7763, 14 November 2016, under the section “Arguments supporting revocability”.

Essentially the question I am asking is ‘Is it possible to reverse or revoke the United Kingdoms invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.”

Yours sincerely,

Graham Gowland

Dear Department for Exiting the European Union,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Exiting the European Union's handling of my FOI request 'Legal advice on withdrawing Article 50'.

You have accepted the first 3 sections of my clarified request submitted on the 31st of October, and so this is now outside the time limits for a response - 20 working days. I would appreciate the requested information as soon as possible.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...

Yours faithfully,

Graham Gowland

Dear Department for Exiting the European Union,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Exiting the European Union's handling of my FOI request 'Legal advice on withdrawing Article 50'.

My request related to the reversibility or withdrawal of Article 50, and you have refused this by stating “​there​ ​is​ ​a​ ​very​ ​strong​ ​public​ ​interest​ ​in​ ​the​ ​most​ ​effective​ ​pursuance​ ​of​ ​the UK’s​ ​national​ ​interests​ ​abroad.​ ​It​ ​is​ ​necessary​ ​to​ ​consider​ ​whether​ ​the​ ​act​ ​of​ ​confirming​ ​or denying​ ​whether​ ​we​ ​hold​ ​information​ ​relevant​ ​to​ ​your​ ​request​ ​would​ ​be​ ​likely​ ​to​ ​prejudice the​ ​Government’s​ ​negotiating​ ​position,​ ​which​ ​would​ ​be​ ​detrimental​ ​to​ ​the​ ​the​ ​UK’s relationships​ ​with​ ​other​ ​States,​ ​and​ ​with​ ​European​ ​institutions,​ ​and​ ​would​ ​prejudice​ ​the promotion​ ​and​ ​protection​ ​of​ ​the​ ​UK’s​ ​interests​ ​abroad. Taking​ ​into​ ​account​ ​all​ ​the​ ​circumstances​ ​of​ ​this​ ​case,​ ​I​ ​have​ ​concluded​ ​that​ ​the​ ​public interest​ ​favours​ ​maintaining​ ​the​ ​exclusion​ ​of​ ​the​ ​duty​ ​to​ ​confirm​ ​or​ ​deny​ ​whether​ ​we​ ​hold information​ ​in​ ​relation​ ​to​ ​your​ ​request.”

My request did not relate to the government's negotiating position, it asked for information on the reversibility or withdrawal of Article 50. The Government is not negotiating this - they are pursuing Brexit, and that is the focus of the negotiations. Even if this was not the focus, I would remind you that under the Terms of Reference for the Article 50 TEU negotiations - terms agreed to by the UK Government, “For both parties the default is transparency.” The EU has published documents considering the reversibility of Brexit, as has the British Government, exampled in the House of Commons briefing paper by Vaughne Miller, Arabella Lang, and Jack Simson-Caird, ‘Brexit: Article 50 TEU and the EU Court’, House of Commons Library Briefing Paper no. 7763, 14 November 2016, under the section “Arguments supporting revocability”. With these documents existing, making public the most current position on reversibility of A50 cannot compromise any negotiation position.

Further may I remind you of the DFXEU’s responses to various Brexit petitions: “Parliament passed an Act of Parliament with a clear majority giving the Prime Minister the power to trigger Article 50, which she did on 29 March in a letter to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. As a matter of firm policy, our notification will not be withdrawn - for the simple reason that people voted to leave, and the Government is determined to see through that instruction.”. Clearly reversing or withdrawing A50 is not a government negotiation position.

Given the EU is negotiating the Exit of the UK from the EU, it is difficult to see why they would be interested in the existence of the information I requested, however the group that does have a clear interest in the reversibility of Brexit are the British People. Many discussions are taking place over the way forward for the country - and the question of reversibility is often key.

May I remind you of the statement in “ Your Right to Know” - "Unnecessary secrecy in government leads to arrogance in governance and defective decision-making." - Many British people have a vested interest in the question of reversibility - on whichever side they are on. If A50 is not reversible, then it it pointless for them to even consider this. If it is reversible, then clearly the basis of that reversibility is one that British people may campaign on - but you are seeking to conceal the basis they might base this on. Refusing to release the opinions I have asked for prevents any meaningful discussion on the future of Brexit. I understand the position of DEXEU is that we are leaving the EU - but the British People have a right to know about the activities of public authorities, unless there is a good reason for them not to. This presumption or assumption in favour of disclosure cannot be casually ignored for political reasons, and I call on you to release the information requested.

Should it help with the release of such information, I am not requesting discussion documents on the wisdom of the UK reversing A50, and would be happy for such sections to be redacted.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...

Yours faithfully,

Graham Gowland

Dear Department for Exiting the European Union,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Exiting the European Union's handling of my FOI request 'Legal advice on withdrawing Article 50'.

I have already submitted a request for an internal review, and should have had a response within 20 working days, or a holding response if a reply would take longer. Please can you inform me on the result of my initial review request.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...

Yours faithfully,

Graham Gowland

Dear DEXEU Freedom of Information Team Mailbox,

Please can you confirm you have exceeded the 40 day response threshold for a response to my request for an internal review?

Yours sincerely,

Graham Gowland

Dear DEXEU Freedom of Information Team Mailbox,

Thank you for your reply, Can I ask if I am likely to have a response within the next 7 days? This is now so overdue, I suspect I will need to request review by the Information Commissioner's Office.

Yours sincerely,

Graham Gowland