EU takes control of Brexit timetable as May is sidelined
Brussels sets April 12 decision day if deal fails for third time as Prime Minister tries to repair rift with her MPS
EU LEADERS turned the screw on Theresa May last night by refusing her request for a three-month Brexit extension and giving her just three weeks to find a way forward.
If the Prime Minister fails to get Parliament’s backing for her Brexit deal in a third “meaningful vote”, she will have until April 12 to decide whether to seek a further extension or leave with no deal.
Even if Mrs May asks for an extension beyond April 12, the EU could refuse, after Emmanuel Macron warned that a third defeat for the Brexit deal would mean “going to a no-deal”.
If Parliament backs Mrs May’s deal next week, Britain will leave the EU on May 22.
April 12 marks the date Mrs May must inform the Electoral Commission whether Britain will hold European Parliament elections. Despite previously saying it would be a “failure” if Britain had to take part in the elections in May, the Prime Minister talked up the idea of a further extension in a latenight press conference.
She said that if MPS had not agreed her deal by April 12: “We would either leave with no deal or put forward an alternative plan. If this involved a further extension it would mean participation in the European elections.”
She refused to say whether she would prefer no deal to a lengthy delay, in comments that will infuriate Brexiteers.
Mrs May also confirmed her deal would be put to a vote again next week. MPS are expected to table amendments that could lead to Parliament taking control of the Brexit process and demanding a long delay.
The Prime Minister also attempted to repair the damage caused by her national address on Wednesday night, when she blamed MPS for the chaos.
The speech backfired when MPS said she had alienated the very people she needed to help her get her deal over the line, and Mrs May effectively accepted she had gone too far, saying: “I know MPS on all sides of the debate have passionate views, and I respect those different positions.
“Last night I expressed my frustration. I know that MPS are frustrated too. They have difficult jobs to do. I hope we can all agree, we are now at the moment of decision.”
The new timetable amounts to a fresh humiliation for Mrs May after the European Council tore up her request for an extension to June 30 and im- posed its own calendar, after complaining that she had come to Brussels without a plan.
Talks overran by four hours after Mrs May frustrated the 27 EU leaders by repeatedly refusing to say what she would do if MPS rejected her deal for a third time, as she was questioned by them for 90 minutes. Mrs May was asked to leave the room after she had made her pitch and spent hours waiting while the other EU leaders decided the future of Brexit without her.
Earlier, Mr Macron increased the pressure on Mrs May by telling her that if her deal was rejected for a third time, the UK and the EU would be “going to a
no deal”. Mrs May had said earlier this week that she did not want to be the Prime Minister who asked for a lengthy delay, and two Cabinet ministers told The Daily Telegraph the only way forward for her was to embrace no deal.
One said: “We can’t be the party of Remain. She will face Cabinet resignations but that won’t matter. The only way we can survive as a party is by delivering Brexit.”
MPS were so incensed by her televised address on Wednesday night, in which she blamed Parliament for the Brexit deadlock, that some predicted she could lose a third vote by an even bigger margin than the 149-vote defeat she suffered earlier this month.
MPS have already voted for a longer Brexit delay if the deal is rejected again, but that remains in the gift of the EU. Before the talks began, Mr Macron said: “In the case of a negative vote in the British Parliament, we will be going to a no-deal. We all know that.
“It is absolutely essential to be clear in these days and these moments, because it is a matter of the good functioning of the EU. We cannot have what I would call an excessive extension which would harm our capacity to decision and to act.
“We have to be clear. We can agree a technical extension in case of a yes vote, [but] in case of no, directly it will guide everybody to a no deal. For sure. This is it.”
Mr Macron has the power to veto a long extension because the European Council must make decisions unanimously, meaning any member state could torpedo a long extension if it wanted to.