Re: A total waste of effort to support a transparent bluff
"The EU has made it clear that we can drop Article 50 and return to EU membership and normality."
Not officially, and with good reason.
Whilst various EU politicians have made this suggestion, it hasn't actually been offered formally and with good reason. Article 50 *is* the point of no return. The point of the 2-year period is not "cooling off" but rather to let everyone adapt. If it were possible to change your mind 23 months in, a lot of people who had spent the 2 years spending money and making plans for the new arrangement would be right pissed off that they'd been deceived. There's no way that would not end up in court and (in my view) equally no way that all 27 remaining EU members would agree to even try it.
The point has also been made *several* times, that if the UK gets a special favour and ends up with a nice deal outside the EU then the electorate in many EU countries might start voting for anti-EU parties. Even those who don't want to "punish" the UK are opposed to the idea of "rewarding" it.
It is conceivable that the UK might be allowed to fast-track its re-entry, but it would spend at least some time officially "out" and re-entry would be on the terms that are offered to any other third-party. That means accepting the Euro and no special "rebates". It is very unlikely that this would get past any UK referendum on re-entry and also very unlikely that the UK could re-enter without such a referendum.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
