Jolyon Maugham QC had sought to ask the High Court to seek a ruling from the European Court of Justice on whether the activation of Article 50 can be reversed.

The London-based tax barrister raised over £70,000 for the legal challenge through an online crowdfunding campaign.

In a statement, Mr Maugham said: “With regret, we have agreed between us and with Ireland that the litigation should be discontinued.”

He attributed the decision to pragmatic questions around timing, as the case might not conclude until October 2018, and to rising costs.

Mr Maugham concluded: “I have sought to be a careful steward of the crowdfunded money. Of the £70,000 raised, £4,000 went in fees. Of the remainder, a significant portion will have been expended on legal costs so far. But there will be a sum remaining unspent. The solicitors have not yet been able to quantify that sum. When that sum is known to me, I will ensure it goes either to other Brexit related litigation with sympathetic aims – or if there is no other such litigation to a charity.

“I think it was right to make the bold decision to seek the answers we need. We knew there was no guarantee of success. But we were right to try. It’s now up to all of us to take our love of our country and our optimism that there is a positive way forward and channel it to protect, Brexit or no Brexit, the values we care about.”