"If they revoke Article 50 they will be precipitating the biggest political crisis in England since the civil war began in 1642, where the King put himself in opposition to Parliament and lost his head. So if Parliament puts itself in opposition to Article 50 it will be putting itself in opposition to the people and if Parliament wins the people will have lost their liberty," the UKIP leader Gerard Batten told Sputnik.
The UKIP leader noted that May’s decision "doesn't come as any surprise as it ties in with the ECJ ruling." The ruling itself is "entirely novel because the [withdrawal] treaty and Article 50 say no such thing," he said.
"So they've arrived at this decision to help the British political establishment with a get-out clause on Brexit. The big question now is what the government and the Commons do next. Do they take that blatant and cynical opportunity to revoke Article 50, or is it going to provoke a political crisis where we have a general election?" the official pointed out.
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Batten, who led a sizeable "Brexit Betrayal March" in London on Sunday, stressed that the intention to "ditch Brexit altogether" had long been on the political agenda. According to him, even if May resigns, nothing will change, as "then some other plausible liar will step into the leadership of the Conservative party to tell us a load more lies about what they are doing or not doing."
"I predicted years ago that if we had a Brexit referendum and Leave won, the political establishment would have to find a way of working with the EU to delay and impede the whole process until they arrived at a situation where they could overturn the results of the referendum altogether," he argued.
According to Batten, the government has succeeded in its intention to overturn the Brexit vote by arriving at a "withdrawal agreement deal that nobody wants," only to "to convince people that it's just too difficult to leave the European Union."
The comments follow May's decision to defer the vote on the Brexit withdrawal deal in parliament slated for Tuesday. The decision came hours after the ECJ ruled that the country could unilaterally revoke its notification of withdrawal from the bloc.
The draft Brexit deal, agreed by the UK government and Brussels in November, has faced much criticism both from the UK opposition and the ruling party, with several members of the cabinet having resigned over disagreements with the deal. According to critics, the "backstop" provision of the deal, which is meant to prevent a hardening of the Irish border, constrains the UK ability to fully exit the EU's Customs Union, with a union-wide regulatory framework preventing any unilateral withdrawal on its part.