PM eyes June 30 as new Brexit date
PRIME Minister Theresa May has requested a three-month delay to Brexit, postponing the UK’s departure from the European Union from March 29 to June 30.
The PM made the request in a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk exactly 1,000 days after the 2016 referendum which delivered a 52%-48% majority to quit the EU.
And she sparked speculation that she may step down if either MPs or Europe demand a longer extension to the Article 50 negotiation process, declaring: “As Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30.”
If the delay is approved at a Brussels summit today, Mrs May will rush legislation through both Houses of Parliament next week to remove the date March 29 from Brexit laws. And she told MPs she intends to table her Withdrawal Agreement for a third time in the Commons, in the hope of overturning massive defeats inflicted on it in January and March.
Aides declined to name a date for the third “meaningful vote” – known in Westminster as MV3 – but said it would happen “as soon as possible”.
Brussels has made clear that any extension of the Article 50 negotiation process beyond June would require the UK to take part in elections to the European Parliament in May – something which Mrs May said was in the interests neither of Britain or the EU.
She told MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions: “The idea that three years after voting to leave the EU, the people of this country should be asked to elect a new set of MEPs is, I believe, unacceptable.
“It would be a failure to deliver on the referendum decision this House said it would deliver.”
Aides said Mrs May will “passionately” make her case for a three-month delay today to the leaders of the remaining 27 EU states, whose unanimous approval is required for any extension.
But an unconfirmed report in French news magazine Le Point suggested that President Emmanuel Macron will argue against any postponement beyond March 29 – just eight days away.
And European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said that there will “probably” have to be another summit next week to finalise the decision if Mrs May is unable to show today that she has the support of Parliament for her plans.
He told German radio that a short extension would give the UK Parliament time to agree to the existing Withdrawal Agreement text, but insisted there would be “no more negotiations”.
“If that doesn’t happen, and if Great Britain does not leave at the end of March, then we are, I am sorry to say, in the hands of God,” said Mr Juncker. “And I think even God sometimes reaches a limit to his patience.”
Only six days ago, Mrs May’s effective deputy David Lidington warned that a short delay would be “downright reckless”.