Here’s how Article 50 could actually be revoked, even if the PM says she won’t do it

If the Kennedy Bill passed it would enable MPs to resolve Brexit without the Sword of Damocles hanging over them. With no deal formally off the table, MPs can concentrate on what happens next

Democracy! Can’t live with it! Can’t live without it!

How grim to be an MP in this parliament. Resolved to do your best for the nation, as well as your constituents, according to your beliefs, yet you’re faced with Brexit and the intervention of the inconclusive referendum in the UK’s democratic processes.

There’s a rudderless government, a shouty prime minister who has no authority and an opposition who is playing at politics. And these are the leaders of political parties whose whips you are expected to follow. The referendum result wasn’t only inconclusive, it was flawed and is even tainted with criminality. Yet no one with any actual power mentions that.

There’s a vacuum in leadership. MPs may look longingly at some of their colleagues, hoping that one day they may take the reins, but they know that they are stuck with the hand they’ve been dealt to play out this particularly gruelling game.

But is it unwinnable? When this parliament is finally put out of its misery, what will MPs have to show for it? It’s bleak. Why would you go in to politics?

As the countdown to crashing out of the EU with no deal, like the Doomsday clock, approaches midnight, all is not lost. Our MPs may have been put into an impasse by the UK’s prime minister, but other aspects of our democracy can still come to the rescue. The unelected House of Lords and democracy do not necessarily go hand in hand, but within the UK system, the Lords play an essential role in upholding the core elements of democracy. Where the Commons is now scorched with heat, the Lords can shed light.

The Lords can take an apolitical role. Baroness Helena Kennedy QC is a Labour peer, but first and foremost she is a lawyer. She puts the rule of law and justice first. If the UK crashes out of the EU, one of the first casualties will be social justice. That’s what happens in a national emergency. We all know that. There is even a risk that law and order will break down.

Kennedy has therefore proposed a simple solution to ensuring that the UK cannot leave the EU without a deal. Having consulted with a former top parliamentary counsel – one of those boffins who do the actual drafting of bills – she has come up with a straightforward solution for ensuring that the UK cannot leave the EU deal-less.

The Kennedy Bill has two clauses. But only one counts (the other is a formality and extends the bill across all the nations making up the UK). Clause 1 is simple and effective. Under the heading, “Revocation of notification of intention to withdraw from the European Union”, it states:

(1) Subsection (2) applies if it appears to the prime minister that a withdrawal agreement is unlikely to be ratified by the United Kingdom before exit day.

(2) The prime minister must in that case, before exit day, notify the European Council that the notification given by the United Kingdom under Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European Union, of its intention to withdraw from the European Union, is revoked.

The bill’s simplicity is its genius.

MPs have mandated that the UK cannot leave the EU without a deal, but in the absence of an Act of Parliament giving effect to that decision, their vote is nothing more than a political commitment. There is no legal duty to prevent the UK crashing out. Kennedy’s Bill makes MPs intentions law.

The Kennedy Bill does not prevent the UK from leaving the EU. That is not its purpose. All it does is prevent the Doomsday scenario of leaving without a deal. Revocation of Article 50 is the option of last resort and it should only be relied upon in these circumstances to prevent a national emergency. Leaving with no deal would turn the current crisis into an emergency. But for revocation to be accepted by the EU, it must be unequivocal and mean the UK is committed to remaining within the EU, at least in the short to medium term.

The Kennedy Bill will therefore require those MPs who are committed to leaving the EU to sharpen their thinking and focus on reaching a consensus. It will become incumbent on Remain MPs to work with those who want to leave to find an acceptable solution to the Brexit crisis.

Once this bill is law, it will enable MPs to resolve Brexit without the Sword of Damocles hanging over them. With no deal off the table, MPs can concentrate on what happens next.

The Kennedy Bill, or something like it, is long overdue. MPs can regain control of Brexit by ensuring it is passed. If parliament put its weight behind it, it could become law in a day. The government is at a cross roads. An online petition calling for Article 50 to be revoked has, within a matter of hours, already topped a million signatures. It is the fastest online petition in UK history. The same number are likely to turn up at the People’s Vote march on Saturday. Governments ignore these numbers at their peril.

If the government wants to retain a semblance of control, it will adopt the Kennedy Bill. Time must be found in the parliamentary timetable early next week to push the bill through. If not, parliament could seize the initiative and make the act happen. If that were to occur, this would be the final death knell of Theresa May’s Brexit parliament.

Once enacted, MPs could then work with the government, which is the basis of the UK’s constitutional framework, instead of parliament and government being at loggerheads. Once the UK is protected from a no-deal Brexit, MPs can again then take pride in their job, we, the electorate can take pride in our democracy and what seemed an intractable crisis may well be resolved.