May pleads for delay to Brexit as EU stands firm
Theresa May will ask the EU to delay Brexit today amid warnings from Brussels that the price of an extension could be a general election or second referendum.
Cabinet ministers are expecting the prime minister to ask for the Brexit deadline to be pushed back to June 30 with the option of requesting a longer delay left open.
May will then travel to Brussels with little to offer the 27 other EU countries, all of which must agree to any postponement. By law Britain will leave the EU with or without a deal in nine days.
MPs rejected the deal that May had negotiated with the EU for a second time last week by 149 votes.
She was hoping to hold a third vote this week but John Bercow, the Speaker, torpedoed that on Tuesday by saying that the motion would have to be substantially different.
May still hopes to hold another vote but even if her deal were passed a short extension would be needed to get the legislation through parliament.
May’s letter to Donald Tusk, the European Council president, spelling out the exact extension request was held back by a nervous No 10 yesterday.
Senior ministers said that she appeared undecided whether to ask for a longer extension and anger Tory Brexiteers or risk the humiliation of having terms imposed on her.
In what appeared to be a coordinated effort to limit her options, EU leaders set a series of conditions before tomorrow’s summit, the last before Britain is scheduled to leave.
Michel Barnier, Brussels’ chief Brexit negotiator, said that if the prime minister failed to get agreement for the withdrawal agreement in the coming week she would have to commit to a change in political direction. ‘‘What would be the purpose and outcome of an extension and how could we be sure that at the end ... we are not back in the same situation as today?’’ he said.
‘‘The EU authorities want to know what the underlying political process, which would be the grounds for that extension, would be – [whether it is a] political process within the House of Commons or in the general political debate in the UK. A longer extension needs to be linked to something new.’’
In a private meeting with EU foreign and European affairs ministers Barnier said that only a change to the UK government’s red lines, a general election or another referendum would justify a long delay. ‘‘A timetable to a new referendum or a new election could justify a longer extension,’’ he told ministers, according to a diplomatic note.
Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, told No 10 that the EU could veto a request for a short extension that did not have a plan attached. ‘‘I don’t think there’s any appetite amongst EU leaders to simply kick this can down the road because it hasn’t been possible to coalesce a majority in Westminster,’’ he said.
‘‘The EU do not want to grant an extension on request for the UK that brings us back to the same point that we are at today, in three months’, six months’, nine months’ time.’’
He added: ‘‘I think people would be very foolish to assume that this is just some kind of political game and that an extension will automatically be facilitated.’’
May canvassed opinion from her cabinet ministers yesterday in a meeting that once again laid bare the divisions among her top team. Andrea Leadsom, the Commons leader, and Liz Truss, the Treasury secretary, were among those urging her to make June 30 the final deadline. Others said that would do nothing to win over Brexiteer opponents and that parliament would, in any case, again step in to prevent a no-deal exit.
‘‘Everyone had a different opinion but I think everyone recognised that there were no good options here and not a lot of choice.
‘‘In going to Brussels we are not in a position to choose from the a la carte menu any more,’’ a cabinet minister said.
An EU diplomat said: ‘‘If she spells out a path to indicative votes to determine what solutions can garner support, add commitment to European elections and good faith as a member state and you can be pretty sure a long extension will be waved through.’’