GREAT news! After much wringing of hands and crossing of fingers on the part of the British public, the Court of Justice of the European Union has delivered the verdict many had been praying for: the UK can call off Brexit without anyone else’s say-so. That’s right, we have the option of staying in the European Union on existing terms should we want to do so.

Though the decision will not go down well with the kind of hard-line Brexiteer who believes the blind vote cast in 2016 should be binding, news from the past few days alone highlights why the option is at the very least worth exploring. Indeed, while accountancy giants EY and KPMG are the latest in a long line of experts to issue warnings about the potentially dire economic prospects facing both Scotland and the UK if an orderly withdrawal cannot be agreed, the Federation of Small Businesses has found that “the uncertainty and confusion associated with Brexit” has brought Scottish business confidence to its lowest-ever ebb, with firms - for which read employers - north of the Border “particularly distressed about the current state of affairs”.

While that could have serious consequences for the jobs market, fears are growing about the impact Brexit could have on Scotland’s cultural scene, which relies on international funding packages not to mention the free movement of people for its survival. Though Aberdeenshire-based arts director Claudia Zeiske has floated plans for a body that would help Scottish artists maintain ties with Europe following the UK’s departure, the organisation would rely on external funding to survive and we all know what happens to funding for the arts in times of economic strife.

As if all that wasn’t bad enough the pound, which has never recovered from the battering it took in the wake of the Brexit referendum, fell so low after Theresa May yesterday decided to postpone parliament’s vote on her withdrawal plan that it is now essentially on an equal footing to both the dollar and the euro. Not only does that have serious consequences for trade, it makes a mockery of all that Brexit was supposed to achieve and brings cold comfort to anyone hoping to escape the gloom by indulging in a bit of winter sun. Quite where the pound will be when summer comes around is anyone’s guess.

Of course, just because the European court has said we can cancel Brexit does not mean that we will, with the case still to go back to the Court of Session for a final ruling. As the Scottish judges had sought their European colleagues’ opinion in order to help them make their decision that may well turn out to be a formality, but even then cancelling the deal will in no way be a done deal. While the ECJ ruling has made clear that parliament can instruct the Government to halt the Brexit process, arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg noted that the latter is unlikely to accept such instructions without a fight. “The only way to stay in the European Union is to legislate to do so, to reverse the Withdrawal Act, and that would require the Government to do a complete U-turn,” he said soon after the judgment was handed down. And, though he’ll have sent many hearts a-fluttering by adding that “this government would find it very difficult to remain the government if it went away from what it said in its manifesto and the referendum result”, the logical alternative - a change of regime - would not necessarily bring about a different result.

Indeed, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is apparently itching to form a minority government should MPs vote to reject Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement, his long-held opposition to the European project would suggest that far from seeking to give up on Brexit he would instead look to make his own mark on it. Given how shambolic his Labour leadership has been, it can hardly be imagined that he will be able to magically deliver something better than the Prime Minister’s wholly unsatisfactory deal - or that Mrs May will be able to negotiate some kind of improvement simply by delaying parliament’s vote.

Yet as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pointed out on Twitter, what the ECJ judgment does pave the way for is “an extension of Article 50 to allow time for another vote, followed by revocation of Article 50 if the outcome is Remain”. As we now know so much more about the implications of Brexit than we did when the first referendum was held, surely this is not only the most preferable route to go down but the fairest too.

We’ve known for some time that the economic consequences of leaving the EU will be far from favourable and the news on that front only seems to be getting worse. With the popular support for Brexit now being led by none other than Tommy Robinson - a man so extreme in his views that even yesterday’s xenophobe Nigel Farage has distanced himself from him - the whole project has descended into farce. Thanks to the ECJ ruling, at the very least MPs can vote down the withdrawal agreement - in whatever form it may eventually take - safe in the knowledge that no-deal chaos does not have to ensue. It will hardly be an end in itself, but let’s hope they do just that.