May: Brexit deal within our grasp
THERESA May has suggested she could try to take her EU Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament before it has been formally approved by the other 27 member states.
Amid growing pressure to delay Brexit with just 32 days left on the clock, the Prime Minister insisted it is “within our grasp” for Britain to leave the EU with a deal on March 29.
European Council president Donald Tusk revealed that he had discussed the legal and procedural process for extending the two-year Article 50 withdrawal negotiations with Mrs May when he met her on Sunday in Egypt.
Mr Tusk said he believes delaying the UK’s withdrawal beyond March 29 is now a “rational solution”, warning that the only alternative, if MPs cannot agree a deal, is “a chaotic Brexit”.
And Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who had talks with Mrs May in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh yesterday, said the UK needed to “wake up”.
Mr Rutte said: “The Netherlands is one of your best friends. What you guys are doing – leaving EU in this time of insecurity in the world, instability in EU – is the wrong decision. It’s four weeks until the end date and still the UK has not agreed a position.
“So, now we are sleepwalking into a no-deal scenario. It’s unacceptable and your best friends have to warn you. Wake up. This is real. Come to a conclusion and close the deal.”
Despite also facing pressure from proEurope Tories for a delay, the Prime Minister insisted in a press conference at the end of a summit of EU and Arab nations that she was sticking to her timetable.
“It’s within our grasp to leave with a deal on March 29 and that’s where all of my energies are going to be focused,” she said.
Challenged over whether MPs would be able to vote on any additional assurances she secures from Brussels before they have been formally signed off by the EU27, Mrs May said: “It is possible to do it either way.”
Rejecting calls for a delay, the Prime Minister said: “An extension to Article 50, a delay in this process, doesn’t deliver a decision, it doesn’t deliver a deal. All it does is precisely what the word ‘delay’ says.
“Any extension of Article 50 isn’t addressing the issues. We have it within our grasp.
“I’ve had a real sense from the meetings I’ve had here and the conversations I’ve had in recent days that we can achieve that deal.”
Mr Tusk said it was “absolutely clear” that if there was no majority in the House of Commons to approve a deal, Britain faces the two alternatives of “chaotic Brexit or extension”.
“The less time there is until March 29, the greater the likelihood of an extension,” said Mr Tusk. “I believe that, in the situation we are in, an extension would be a rational solution, but Prime Minister May still believes she is able to avoid this scenario.”
Mrs May said she will put her deal to Parliament by March 12 at the latest.