EU will offer May delay to Brexit

European leaders prepared to extend Article 50 deadline PM feels heat as legal advice reveals backstop ‘trap’

THE EU is prepared to discuss extending Article 50 if Theresa May’s Brexit deal is rejected next week, after her proposal was badly undermined by the Government’s own legal advice.

The Prime Minister will travel to Brussels on Dec 13, two days after the parliamentary vote on the Withdrawal Agreement, when EU leaders are ready to discuss postponing Brexit.

Mrs May insists Britain will leave the EU on March 29 next year, but EU sources have said her fellow leaders would be open to the idea of extending the Article 50 process if it meant avoiding a no-deal Brexit.

Mrs May’s chances of winning next Tuesday’s vote were dealt a fresh blow yesterday when the Government published its legal advice on the deal, which warned that Britain could be yoked to the EU forever if the Irish backstop came into force.

The legal advice, prepared by Geoffrey Cox QC, the Attorney General, also makes it clear that Northern Ireland and mainland Britain would be subject to different customs regimes under the backstop, creating a regulatory border in the Irish Sea.

The legal advice – which the Government was forced to publish after being found in contempt of Parliament for not doing so – flew in the face of assurances from Mrs May and other ministers that the backstop would only be temporary and that Northern Ireland would be treated in exactly the same way as the rest of the UK.

Last night Mrs May was trying to salvage her deal by discussing a way of giving MPS a veto over the backstop – the mechanism designed to avoid a hard border in Ireland if no trade deal can be agreed. Two alternative plans were being discussed with backbenchers. One would force Mrs May to seek a unilateral exit mechanism from the backstop, while the other would give MPS the right to choose between the backstop or a no-deal Brexit if trade talks failed.

EU leaders are prepared to offer her a lifeline by offering to extend the Article 50 process – and postponing Brexit beyond March – if she asks them to at the two-day summit next week.

A succession of Tory MPS, including Sir Michael Fallon and Mark Harper, yesterday urged Mrs May to return to Brussels and seek a revised deal.

However, Mrs May will be hugely reluctant to postpone Brexit as it would mean breaking her promise that Britain will leave the EU on March 29, which could in turn force her to resign and give a new Conservative prime minister the opportunity to renegotiate the deal. Last night the DUP, on whose votes Mrs May relies for her working majority, encouraged Brexiteers to vote against the deal by saying its MPS would support the Government in a confidence vote if the deal was rejected.

However, the party said its confi- dence and supply deal with the Conservative Party would be over if the deal was voted through, effectively giving Mrs May a choice between her deal or her premiership.

On the second day of the five-day debate over the deal, it emerged that Mrs May will leave it to Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, to make the closing speech next Tuesday.

By allowing Mr Gove, who was coleader of the Leave campaign, to speak last, Mrs May is gambling on him being able to win around any wavering Brexiteers, but the gamble will be seen to have backfired if she loses the vote.

Cabinet ministers are already jostling for position in any leadership contest that might result from a heavy defeat for Mrs May, with Dominic Raab, the former Brexit secretary, emerging as a potential “unity candidate” who could bring together Remainers and Brexiteers. Meanwhile, friends of Mr Cox said they feared he might be on the brink of resigning after his turbulent week, and a former minister suggested at least two other ministers were close to quitting.

As Mrs May spent yesterday in meetings with backbench MPS opposed to her deal, Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, warned that Remainers will “steal Brexit” if the deal is rejected. He said it would “entirely be possible” for MPS to table amendments to forthcoming legislation to “achieve that effect” by voting for a second referendum or no Brexit.

During yesterday’s debate Zac Goldsmith, a Eurosceptic Tory MP, told the Commons: “I believe the Government is going to lose this vote next week, I hope – I’m afraid to say – the Government loses the vote next week.

“And then either this Prime Minister – or, if she will not do it, another prime minister – must take it back to the EU and change it.”