Lord Callanan, who was appointed a Brexit minister last month to replace Lady Anelay, who stood down for health reasons, has just apologised in the House of Lords for telling peers last week that article 50 could not be revoked.
Asked a week ago today to confirm that the supreme court, in the Gina Miller case, said article 50 was irrevocable, he said:
I can confirm that. It is also stated by the European commission that article 50, once invoked, is irrevocable unless there is political agreement on it.
The Labour peer Andrew Adonis said he would be reporting Callanan to the privileges committee over this because it was a false statement that Callanan was refusing to correct.
BREXIT: I have tabled Lords motion referring BREXIT minister Lord Callanan to Privileges Committee for falsely claiming Supreme Court said Art 50 notice cd not be withdrawn, & refusing to correct this. A serious breach of the Ministerial Code
And today Callanan did apologise. In a statement to peers, he said that his statement last Monday was incorrect. That was a result of “a misunderstanding of the question”, he said.
To reiterate, for the avoidance of any doubt, the supreme court proceeded in the Miller case on the basis that article 50 would not be be revoked, but did not rule on the legal position regarding its irrevocability. It was, and remains, the government’s policy that our notification of article 50 will not be withdrawn …
I recognise that my comments have caused confusion and I apologise to the House.
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