Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon was intended to permit and to facilitate the passive withdrawal of a state from membership of the European Union (EU), leaving the legal arrangement of the EU unaltered. It was not intended that a member state would exploit the legal entitlement to exit the EU in an attempt to modify the legal situation of the EU. In the context of Brexit, Article 50 was intended to bring about a situation whereby once the relationship between the UK and the