Quote Originally Posted by fred View Post
Have to say that my respect for Cameron went up a lot.. I think he handled his resignation speech really well... His strategy of handing over the responsibility of evoking article 50 over to the next PM was smart IMO..3/4 required months to let the dust settle a bit!!
He'd previously promised to serve the country to his best ability after the vote regardless of the outcome.
He also stated he would immediately pull the trigger on article 50

As far as I understand it there's no requirement to invoke article 50 at any time unless giving official notice to do and follow the treaty protocols for formal discussions and agreements under a 2 year timeframe.

I'd imagine UK feels the need for informal agreements before invoking a time limit.
Under art 50 at the end of the 2 year period whatever is no concluded is gone.

On the other side of the coin look to Article 7 of the Lisbon treaty which could see UK being suspended as a delinquent member.

Everything could so easily get nasty in this divorce.

So who's responsible ?

The 'leavers' want informal talks first. The EU don't although many individual countries do.

It's not out of the question that Cameron is taking a gamble the 'remainers' still have a chance to legally be eventual winners if he believes that UK remains in the EU as long as article 50 is not invoked.

It's a potential stand-off with nobody willing to pull the trigger.
Nobody in the UK and nobody in the EU