TORIES IN

Extension to deadline not a given, says Barnier Mutiny for May as 12 ministers skip no-deal vote while one resigns after voting against it

FRUSTRATED Brussels chiefs warn that the EU will not automatically agree to a delay to Brexit.

Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief Brexit deal-maker, said negotiations were “done and dusted”.

He claimed Brussels had nothing left to deliver – and insisted the UK must decide the way forward, warning the risk of no-deal had never been higher.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is understood to believe her fellow leaders would back a three-month Brexit extension. But Brussels officials claimed there was not yet a majority among EU states to offer one.

The EU could also attach conditions to any delay, such as increasing the £39billion divorce bill or rewriting fishing rights.

DISCUSSIONS

Mr Barnier, in an angry speech to MEPS, said: “There will be no further interpretations, no further assurances, we cannot go any further.

“Why would we extend these discussions on

Article 50? That is done and dusted.

“We have the withdrawal agreement. It is there.”

He added: “We are at a critical point. The risk of no-deal has never been higher. I urge you, please, not to underestimate that risk or its consequences.”

European Council President Donald Tusk shared a letter on Instagram from Sophie, a six-year-old English girl, saying she wanted to stay friends with the EU. But the letter featured a picture of a unicorn, a pointed message to Brexiteers.

It comes after top Eurocrat Jean-claude Juncker warned any delay, which would have to be agreed by the other 27 EU leaders, could not stretch beyond May 23 unless the UK takes part in EU Parliament elections.