May: UK to seek further Brexit delay

PM to hold talks with opposition for compromise

LonDon: With Britain racing towards a chaotic exit from the European Union within days, Prime Minister Theresa May veered away from the cliff-edge, saying she would seek another Brexit delay and hold talks with the opposition to seek a compromise.

May made the announcement after the EU’s chief negotiator warned that a disruptive and costly Brexit was likely unless Britain broke the impasse that has paralysed the government and Parliament.

After failing repeatedly to win Parliament’s backing for her Brexit blueprint, May said the country needed “national unity to deliver the national interest”.

Following the defeat of the government’s plan and a range of lawmaker-written alternatives, May said Britain would need a further delay to its EU departure, currently scheduled for April 12. She offered to hold talks with opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in an attempt to find a compromise solution.

“This debate, this division, cannot drag on much longer,” May said in a televised statement from 10 Downing St after an all-day Cabinet meeting.

European Council President Donald Tusk gave a cautious welcome to May’s change of course.

“Even if, after today, we don’t know what the end result will be, let us be patient,” he tweeted – a suggestion the EU would wait for Britain to present a clear plan.

Earlier, EU negotiator Michel Barnier offered a downbeat assessment of the situation.

“As things stand now, the no-deal option looks likely. I have to tell you the truth,” Barnier said in Brussels.

The leaders of the EU’s 27 remaining countries have given the UK until April 12 to leave the bloc or to come up with a new plan, after British lawmakers thrice rejected an agreement struck between the bloc and May late last year.

The House of Commons has also failed to find a majority for any alternative plan in two days of voting on multiple options.

May’s statement came after a seven-hour meeting of her fractious Cabinet, which is split between supporters of a “soft Brexit” that keeps close economic ties with the EU, and Brexiteers who believe a no-deal exit is better than compromising.