Brexit: Man Who Wrote Article 50 Says It Was Drafted For Dictators
20 March 2019, 17:59 | Updated: 20 March 2019, 19:46
The peer who wrote Article 50 says it was drafted to protect EU countries against "Eastern European dictators" who did not abide by western values.
Lord Kerr told Eddie Mair it was a way of reducing the "legal chaos" if an unruly member decided to suddenly quit the bloc.
Speaking on Wednesday evening, he said: “We were thinking of a situation of which a country... did not respect democracy, the rule of law, free press, that sort of thing.”
He continued: “What we were devising was a procedure to try to reduce the legal chaos and uncertainty of somebody storming out in a huff.”
“We never thought a grown-up, stable, democratic, Western European society would use Article 50.”
Article 50 is the section of the Lisbon Treaty that allows countries to leave the bloc.
After triggering it almost two years ago, Theresa May has asked the EU for a short extension in a bid to try and get her deal through.
Lord Kerr, who is now calling for a so-called People's Vote, described Brexit as a "bloody mess" which had made the UK a "laughing stock" across Europe.
Watch above.
