Another delay to our EU exit? French say Non!
THE EU will refuse to give Britain a Brexit delay, two top European politicians warned yesterday.
The European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt and French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian both said the UK would not get an extension for its leaving date.
Mr Verhofstadt said it would be “unacceptable” for Brussels to push back Britain’s departure in the current circumstances.
He said: “Let it be a second referendum, new elections, a revocation of Article 50 or the approval of the deal, but not today’s helpless status quo.”
Mr Le Drian had earlier said that, as things stand, a delay beyond the October 31 deadline would not be granted.
He said: “We are not going to do this every three months.”
The politicians’ comments will come as a hammer blow to Remain-backing MPs, who have passed a law forcing Boris Johnson to ask the EU to postpone Brexit if the two sides have not struck an agreement before the deadline day.
EU chiefs have previously suggested they would be willing to delay Brexit in order to give the UK time to hold a general election or a second referendum to help break the impasse.
Mr Johnson will today try for a second time to trigger a snap general election as he urges MPs to back going to the country on October 15.
But opposition leaders have united and agreed they will not support an early poll taking place until a Brexit delay has been formally agreed with the EU to stop Britain crashing out of the bloc in just 53 days.
The Prime Minister, who met with French president Emmanuel Macron last month, has said he will not ask for an extension in any cir cumstances. But Mr Le Drian’s remarks suggest that, even if he did, the request may be denied.
The intervention came as Dominic Raab said the Government will “test to the limit” an anti-no deal law passed by Remainer MPs as he appeared to pave the way for Brexit to end up in front of Supreme Court judges. The Foreign Secretary said ministers will look “very carefully legally” at what the rebel legislation – due to be given Royal Assent today – actually requires.
The law states that Mr Johnson must ask the EU for a Brexit delay beyond the deadline date if Britain and the bloc have failed to strike an agreement in the run-up to October 31. But Mr Johnson has repeatedly said he will not ask Brussels for an extension because it would mean breaking his “do-or-die” pledge to deliver Brexit with or without a deal.
Mr Johnson’s stance, combined with Mr Raab’s comments, suggest that the PM is ready to go ahead with a plan which would see him to agree a new deal with Brussels at a summit on October 17.
But should he fail, he could refuse to comply with the anti-no deal legislation passed by MPs and ignore the requirement to ask for an extension.
Downing Street believes such a course of action will guarantee an
immediate judicial review in the Supreme Court, with the fate of Brexit placed in the hands of judges, just days before the October 31 deadline.
Mr Raab said: “We will adhere to the law but we will also, because this is such a bad piece of legislation – the surrender bill that Jeremy Corbyn backed – we will also want to test to the limit what it does actually lawfully require.”
Chancellor Sajid Javid said the Government will not change its policy on no-deal having to be a Brexit option and insisted the PM will not ask for an extension.
He said: “First of all, the Prime Minister will go to the council meeting on the 17th and 18th of October, he’ll be trying to strike a deal.
“He absolutely will not be asking for an extension in that meeting.”