‘I’d better leave now’: May given silent treatment at EU summit

THERESA MAY told EU leaders “I think I’d better leave now” after they responded to a short speech about her Brexit ambitions with silence.

Towards the end of a summit she made a brief intervention in which she said she wanted an early deal to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and of Britons in Europe.

Other leaders declined to respond and Mrs May subsequently had to leave the room so that the other nations could discuss their Brexit strategy.

The EU is refusing to enter into discussions about Brexit until Mrs May formally starts the process by triggering Article 50, which is due to take place by the end of March.

Meanwhile, Philip Hammond was criticised by Eurosceptic Tory MPs after suggesting that the Government was unlikely to resort to a hard Brexit.

The Chancellor said during a trip to South Korea that the UK was unlikely to fall back on its membership of the World Trade Organisation for access to European markets, saying it would not be “the most favoured outcome”. He said that he hoped that the UK could instead agree “tariff-free” access.

Some leading Eurosceptics have said that Britain should be open to leaving the EU without a trade deal and relying on WTO rules in the short term while negotiating new deals.

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Cabinet minister, said: “There is nothing wrong with the World Trade Organisation… people should stop trying to whip up some idea that it is disastrous.”

Enda Kenny, the Irish prime minister, who was at the summit on Thursday, said talks on migration and Syria overran for more than three hours before Mrs May appealed for a quick decision on expat rights.

Mr Kenny said: “She said she would like to have the question of UK citizens living in Europe, and European citizens living in the UK, dealt with in the early part of discussions that take place. There was no response.”

With her RAF plane waiting to take off, Mrs May spoke briefly about Brexit and was then expected to leave the room so other EU leaders could hold a 20-minute discussion about their plans for Brexit negotiations.

One leader’s aide told The Times: “It was a difficult moment for diplomatic etiquette. ‘I think I’d better leave now,’ she said. She was very polite but it was a bit embarrassing.”

Some MPs want Mrs May to be legally bound to trigger Article 50 by the end of March. Peter Bone, a Tory backbencher, has proposed legislation that he believes will make next month’s Supreme Court ruling “irrelevant”.