Brexit delay lifeline

EU hands May six-month extension to sort out withdrawal

EUROPEAN Union nations have offered British Prime Minister Theresa May a further six months to ratify or rethink her withdrawal deal.

The second extension to the Brexit process – initially intended to conclude on March 29 – definitively stopped the clock on a no-deal withdrawal on Friday with less than 48 hours to go.

In an early-hours press conference yesterday, European Council president Donald Tusk did not rule out further extensions beyond October.

And he sent a message to the UK: “This extension is as flexible as I expected, and a little bit shorter than I expected, but it’s still enough to find the best possible solution. Please do not waste this time.”

Addressing the press shortly before 2am on Thursday, Mrs May said that she still wanted the UK to leave the EU “as soon as possible”.

If a withdrawal deal could be ratified within the first three weeks of May, the UK could still avoid participation in that month’s European parliament elections and leave the EU in June, she said.

Acknowledging “huge frustration” among voters that the UK has not yet left the EU, she said: “The choices we now face are stark and the timetable is clear. So we must now press on at pace with our efforts to reach a consensus on a deal that is in the national interest.”

Talks between the government and the opposition to find a compromise way forward are continuing.

“I do not pretend the next few weeks will be easy or that there is a simple way to break the deadlock in parliament,” Mrs May said.

“But we have a duty as politicians to find a way to fulfil the democratic decision of the referendum, deliver Brexit and move our country forward. Nothing is more pressing or more vital.”

The extension will fuel demands from angry Tory backbenchers for Mrs May to resign and hand over to a new leader.