So their thinking is if we don't get a deal we like we won't go? EU will never put up with that and neither will the British people. Yeah, have a vote on the deal which is effectively what happened this time, but if the answer is no we don't like it we leave with nothing. Trigger Article 50 and we are going out!

May and team must have been reading this:

"Some have proposed the use of the Article 50 procedure to force a renegotiation of a Member State's membership of the EU. In this context, the question could be posed as to whether – once a Member State has notified the European Council of its intention to withdraw from the EU, and a withdrawal agreement has been negotiated – it can, depending on the results of the negotiations, unilaterally revoke its notification and suspend the withdrawal procedure. Most commentators argue that this is impossible or at least doubtful, from a legal point of view. Indeed Article 50 TEU does not expressly provide for the revocation of a notice of withdrawal and establishes that, once opened, the withdrawal process ends either within two years or later, if this deadline is extended by agreement.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the event triggering the withdrawal is the unilateral notification as such and not the agreement between the withdrawing state and the EU. The merely declaratory character of the withdrawal agreement for cancellation of membership derives from the fact that the withdrawal takes place even if an agreement is not concluded (Article 50(3) TEU). This does not mean, however, that the withdrawal process could not be suspended, if there was mutual agreement between the withdrawing state, the remaining Member States and the EU institutions, rather than a unilateral revocation."

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegDat...)577971_EN.pdf

My position is in bold though. Once triggered we'll be out regardless. Yay!