A Brexit legal dispute that could open the floodgates to companies wriggling out of multimillion-pound property contracts is due to be heard in court this week.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is moving to Amsterdam after Brexit, is trying to get out of a £500m office lease it agreed with Canary Wharf Group in 2011.
The agency argues that because Britain’s decision to leave the European Union was an unforeseen event, it should be able to exit the 25-year lease for ten floors of office space in Canary Wharf.
Canary Wharf Group disputes the claim. It argues that the UK’s membership of the European Union has been a divisive topic for many years, while Article 50, which allows a member state to withdraw from the EU, has been enshrined in law since 2007.
