810 TOURISM LAW IN EUROPE a negative; that he did not fall ill via a vector other than food. In the absence of a confirmed foodborne pathogen, this is challenging, in practice, and has entirely negated the favourable decision of the Court of Appeal in Wood. 6. BREXIT On 23 June 2016, the UK electorate voted by 52% to 48% to leave the EU, so-called “Brexit”. There followed a period of legal and political upheaval, and, on 24 January 2017, the Supreme Court held that the UK Government must obtain the approval of the Westminster Parliament before commencing the withdrawal process, which it duly did, thus triggering, on 29 March 2017, Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and commencing the Brexit process. On 19 June 2017, a year after the referendum, Brexit negotiations formally began. Eventually, on 31 December 2020, some three and a half years after the referendum, the UK left the EU. In some ways, Brexit changed nothing. Domestic legislation, such as the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, was not affected, the UK remains a signatory to the Montreal and Athens Conventions and existing consumer protection legislation continues in force. The courts will continue to use the caselaw of the Court of Justice of the European Union as an aid to interpret legislation of European origin, although future CJEU decisions will not be binding on the English courts, and the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court retain the ability to refer questions to the CJEU, where they consider it necessary to do so. In other ways, of course, Brexit changes everything. Further EU legislation will not be binding on the UK, and the UK Government of the day will choose whether to promote harmonisation between the EU and UK by voluntarily adopting it or, as appears at present more likely, to diverge from the bloc by either adapting it or ignoring it altogether. Therefore, the full deharmonising effect of Brexit is likely to increase as time goes on, and as EU and UK legislation diverges in ways impossible to predict at present.
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