An Indian-origin academic today warned the UK politicians that invoking Article 50 will only be the start of a long process of extricating Britain from the EU and establishing new relationships with other member states.
A new report by an independent group of academics called 'The UK in a Changing Europe' found that identifying and transposing legislation to be included in a new repeal bill will be a daunting task for civil servants.
"Brexit has the potential to test the UK's constitutional settlement, legal framework, political process and bureaucratic capacities to their limits - and possibly beyond," said Prof Anand Menon, who heads the group.
"An irritating aspect of the current debate is the tendency of Brexiters to accuse those who warn of difficulties of 'talking Britain down'. It's a good line but a pathetic argument. Since when was rational debate a bad thing? Forewarned, surely, is forearmed, and this report will help identify potential stumbling blocks ahead," Menon, professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King's College London, told the Guardian.
The group of academic experts have been commissioned by the UK's Political Studies Association to study the implications and future course after Britain's historic vote to leave the 28-member bloc in a referendum on June 23.
The UK in a Changing Europe has pitched itself as an "authoritative source for independent research on UK-EU relations".
They warn that while Article 50, as set out in the Lisbon treaty, concerns the terms of a divorce with the rest of the EU - including what share of EU liabilities the UK should take on, for example - it is unclear whether the process can allow for parallel negotiations on Britain's future status.
British Prime Minister Theresa May had said last month that she plans to trigger the article to kick-start the two- year process of negotiating a separation from the EU by the end of March 2017.
The government will also publish a great repeal bill, which will transfer all EU-originated laws into British law, so that MPs can decide how much they want to discard.
The Opposition Labour party will support the final vote
on the bill but will try to amend it, including calling for a "meaningful vote" on the final Brexit deal.
The bill will now return to the Commons next week for the committee stage, when Opposition parties will try to push through these amendments.
The bill was tabled last week after the Supreme Court ruled that MPs and peers must have a say before Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty could be triggered. It rejected the UK government's argument that May had sufficient executive powers to trigger Brexit without consulting Parliament.
