EU: Renegotiation is not an option

European leaders yesterday warned Theresa May that they would not reopen negotiations on Britain’s withdrawal agreement and would step up preparations for a no-deal Brexit.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said the EU was prepared to discuss ‘‘how to facilitate’’ the UK’S ratification of the agreement but not the substance of the deal itself.

Privately, EU diplomats said Brussels might be prepared to agree to a ‘‘clarification’’ of the withdrawal agreement either as a separate ‘‘political declaration’’ or a ‘‘letter of intent’’. This could set out the ambition to ensure that the Irish backstop never came into effect but it would not be legally binding.

‘‘There is not much confidence that this would work but if she wants it, we are ready,’’ said a senior EU diplomat. One EU negotiator added: ‘‘She wants to tinker with the backstop. Not sure it will make a difference.’’

The news came after May, facing almost certain defeat, postponed a vote in Parliament on her Brexit deal, saying she would go back to European Union leaders to seek changes to the divorce agreement.

May’s move threw Britain’s Brexit plans into disarray, intensified a domestic political crisis and battered the pound.

In an emergency statement to the House of Commons, May accepted that the divorce deal she struck last month with EU leaders was likely to be rejected ‘‘by a significant margin’’ if the vote were held today as planned.

May said she would defer the vote so she could seek ‘‘assurances’’ from the EU and bring the deal back to Parliament. She did not set a new date for the vote. The UK’S departure is supposed to take place on March 29.

Opposition lawmakers — and ones from May’s Conservative Party — were incredulous and angry. Some accused her of trampling on parliamentary democracy.

‘‘The government has lost control of events and is in complete disarray,’’ Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said.

Corbyn demanded, and was granted, an emergency debate today on the postponement. But Labour lawmaker Lloyd Russell-moyle was expelled from Parliament for the day after he grabbed the House of Commons’ ceremonial mace as a sign of protest.

The centuries-old gilded staff is the symbol of royal authority. Without it, the Commons can’t meet or pass laws.

Jacob Rees-mogg, a leading probrexit Conservative, expressed despair at the Brexit shambles.

‘‘It’s not really governing,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s just an awful muddle.’’

Yesterday’s turmoil sent the pound to a 20-month low against the dollar of US$1.2550.

It was a new blow for May, who became prime minister after Britain’s 2016 referendum decision to leave the EU. She has been battling ever since — first to strike a divorce deal with the bloc, then to sell it to skeptical British lawmakers.

May insisted the agreement hammered out with the EU after a year and a half of negotiations was ‘‘the best deal that is negotiable.’’

But it has been scorned by lawmakers on all sides of Britain’s debate about Europe.

Derisive laughter erupted in the House of Commons when May claimed there was ‘‘broad support’’ for many aspects of the deal. – The Times/ap