ANOTHER YEAR IN LIMBO!
Thanks to our inept MPs, Brussels now insists on long Brexit delay – giving Britain the humiliating prospect of...
BRITAIN was last night facing the prospect of another year in the EU.
Theresa May flies to Brussels tonight to ask for a delay only until the end of June.
But Donald Tusk has urged fellow leaders to impose a year-long delay to ‘allow the UK to rethink its Brexit strategy’. The eU president warned tough conditions would be attached to any extended postponement.
and he said the stalled withdrawal agreement would not be unpicked under any circumstances, including the election of a new Tory leader. The Prime Minister is asking for a short delay to try to get the agreement through Parliament, possibly in a compromise deal with Labour.
But government sources said she was now resigned to a longer period if eU leaders demanded it.
she had insisted she could not countenance putting off Britain’s
departure beyond June 30. The Prime Minister faced a major Commons revolt last night, with 97 Tory MPs voting against any delay to the April 12 leaving date.
Almost 80 more abstained, including a string of ministers. Tory MP Anne Main said the delay request – the second in a month – was making the UK a ‘laughing stock’.
As No 10 indicated Mrs May wanted to stay on as long as it took to complete the first stage of Brexit:
The Prime Minister flew to Berlin and Paris to ask for a short delay;
Chancellor Philip Hammond joined cross-party talks with Labour on a possible soft Brexit deal;
Downing Street was braced for a possible mass walkout of ministers as early as tomorrow if Mrs May accepts a long delay;
Tory hardliner Mark Francois urged the EU to kick Britain out without a deal or face the threat of a ‘perfidious Albion on speed’.
Labour backed the Brexit day delay, helping it pass by 420 votes to 110. But just 131 Tory MPs supported the PM’s plan – 40 per cent of the parliamentary party. Cabinet ministers Andrea Leadsom and Liam Fox, who both abstained, both publicly questioned the PM’s tactics.
Mrs Leadsom urged her to ask German chancellor Angela Merkel to reopen the withdrawal agreement – despite the EU repeatedly ruling this out. Dr Fox hit out at suggestions Mrs May could agree to keep Britain in a customs union as part of a compromise with Labour.
Solicitor general Robert Buckland told MPs the UK would be legally required to take part in European Parliament elections if it was a member state on May 23.
But he suggested British MEPs might not have to take their seats if Westminster agreed an exit plan in the coming weeks. Downing Street indicated that Mrs Merkel, who Mrs May met after flying to Berlin, had agreed to extend Article 50 to ensure ‘Britain’s orderly withdrawal’.
But there is the risk that Emmanuel Macron, who has questioned the point of further delay, could veto it or impose onerous conditions at a summit in Brussels tonight.
The Prime Minister met the French president for talks in Paris after flying on from the German capital. She can refuse the EU’s offer of a long delay. But ministers fear MPs could vote to revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit altogether unless a delay is agreed this evening.
At a meeting of EU ministers in Luxembourg yesterday the bloc’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said a short extension was realistic because Mrs May had a plan to break the impasse.
But according to two diplomatic notes seen by the Mail, there was a ‘ growing trend’ and ‘convergence of opinions’ toward a date much later than June 30.
Sources suggested that EU leaders are now set to extend Article 50 until at least the end of this year.
Mr Tusk last night told EU leaders there was little reason to believe that Mrs May would be able to get an agreement through Parliament by July.
‘Granting such an extension would increase the risk of a rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, creating new cliff- edge dates,’ he said.
He urged EU leaders to agree a ‘ flexible extension’ that would allow the UK to leave early if it could ratify a deal.
But he added: ‘In the event of a continued stalemate, a longer extension would allow the UK to rethink its Brexit strategy.’
EU leaders have been spooked by warnings from Brexit hardliners, including Jacob ReesMogg, that the UK could deploy wrecking tactics if it remained in the EU, such as voting down its budget.
Mr Tusk said the UK would be expected to guarantee it would work in a spirit of ‘sincere co-operation’.
Tory Eurosceptic Anne-Marie Morris warned she could vote for Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party in the European Parliament elections in protest at the delay.
And Boris Johnson’s father Stanley revealed he hopes to stand as a candidate on May 23, almost three years after Britain voted to leave.
‘Wrecking tactics’