British Union Jack (left) and an EU flag in Brussels. Jasper Juinen for Bloomberg
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The decision, which came a day before the British parliament is set to vote on Prime Minister Theresa May's deeply unpopular Brexit deal, made clear that Britain has the ability to reverse itself any time before the March 29 deadline to leave the European Union. There had been a legal question about whether a reversal would require the consent of the other 27 EU members, but the binding decision made clear that little stands in London's way - should it want to return.
"The United Kingdom is free to revoke unilaterally the notification of its intention to withdraw from the EU," the European Court of Justice said in its announcement.
The Brexit deal, which was unveiled last month and obeys the red lines set out by May and EU negotiators, has attracted little support from any part of Britain's squabbling political spectrum. Pro-Brexit hard-liners say it keeps their country unacceptably entangled inside the EU market. Pro-EU campaigners say it would inflict major harm on the British economy and strip Britain's voice in European decision-making while offering little benefit to the country.
The British press on Monday reported that it appeared so likely to go down in major defeat that May was debating whether to delay the vote, although it was unclear what she could offer to change minds.
The British government said in a statement that the ruling did not change their plans to pull Britain out of the European Union.
"This does not change the government's firm policy," the statement said. "The British people gave a clear instruction to leave, and we are delivering on that instruction."
The decision fueled demands in Britain for a second referendum that could reverse the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union.
The court rejected arguments from both the British government and the European Commission that other countries would need a say in the reversal. The ruling also said that if EU leaders grant Britain an extension period after March 29 to keep negotiating, the British about-face could take place during that time too.
British advocates of remaining in the European Union reveled in the decision.
"It's a huge and game-changing moment, clarifying definitively that the British people have real choices about Brexit - and that we can still determine our own destiny," wrote two pro-E. U. British members of parliament, Chris Leslie and Tom Brake, in an opinion post published on HuffPost UK.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has warned she could try to lead Scotland out of the United Kingdom and back into the European Union, also embraced the ruling.
"So an extension of Article 50 to allow time for another vote, followed by revocation of Article 50 if the outcome is Remain seems to be an option that is now open to the House of Commons," she wrote on Twitter, referencing the section of European treaties that creates a two-year clock for a country's leaving the European Union.
Even though the ruling eased the way for Britain to stay in the European Union, it was unlikely to be welcomed wholeheartedly by pro-EU leaders in countries such as France and Germany. European leaders are frustrated after more than two years of what they see as British-generated political chaos, and leaders have previously said that if Britain stayed an EU member, they would like to take away the list of opt-outs and rebates that British leaders had demanded over decades. The court ruling would allow all that to stay in place.
Still, some EU leaders quickly welcomed the ruling.
"I would be more than happy to see U.K. staying in the European Union," Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics wrote on Twitter, calling it a "very important ruling."
The prospects of a reversal inside Britain remain unclear. May has declared herself firmly committed to Brexit. Her Conservative party is split. But the Labour Party is also mixed about Brexit, and party leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he wants a different, softer Brexit, not no Brexit at all.
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