EU holds all Brexit cards after May denied new vote

LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan has been derailed in Parliament. Now she is at the mercy of an exasperated European Union.

May was preparing Tuesday to ask the EU for a delay to Brexit of at least several months after the speaker of the House of Commons ruled that she can’t keep asking lawmakers to vote on the same divorce deal that they have already rejected twice.

Chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the bloc wouldn’t automatically grant the request.

May had hoped to win over her domestic opponents and bring her deal back to Parliament before a summit of the 28-nation bloc in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

That plan was scuttled Monday by House of Commons Speaker John Bercow.

The deadlock leaves Britain’s plan to exit the European Union, still scheduled to take place March 29, in limbo.

The prime minister’s Downing

St. office said May will send a letter formally requesting an extension to European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday or Wednesday.

If the Brexit deal was approved, May had planned to ask the bloc for an extension until June 30 in order for Parliament to pass the necessary legislation for Britain’s departure.

Now a much longer delay looks likely. May has warned opponents that a failure to approve her agreement would mean a long, and possibly indefinite, delay to Britain’s departure from the EU.

It could also mean Britain crashing out of the bloc next week without a deal, even though Parliament has voted to rule out that option.

By law, the U.K. will leave the EU on March 29, deal or no deal, unless it secures a delay from the bloc. Withdrawing without a deal could mean huge disruption for businesses and people in the U.K. and the 27 remaining EU countries.