Brexit: May to ask EU for further extension
London: British Prime Minister Theresa May will ask the European Union for an extension to the Brexit deadline to “break the logjam” in Parliament.
The Prime Minister says she wants to meet Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to agree a plan on the future relationship with the EU, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
But she insisted her withdrawal agreement — which was voted down last week — would remain part of the deal.
May said she wanted the extension to be “as short as possible” — before May 22 so the UK does not have to take part in European elections.
The UK has until April 12 to propose a plan – which must be accepted by the EU – or it will leave without a deal.
The UK was supposed to leave the EU on March 29 but May agreed a short extension after realising Parliament would not agree a deal by the deadline.
MPs have twice held indicative votes to try to find a consensus, but none of the proposals won a majority.
May met her cabinet for more than seven hours on Tuesday, and afterwards gave a statement from Downing Street.
She said she wanted to agree a new plan with Corbyn and put it to a vote in the Commons before April 10 – when the EU will hold an emergency summit on Brexit.
If she and Corbyn do not agree a single way forward, she proposed putting a number of options to MPs “to determine which course to pursue”.
The Prime Minister said she understood some people were “so fed up with delay and endless arguments” they would prefer to leave without a deal, and she believed the UK “could make a success of no-deal in the long term”.
But she added that leaving with a deal was “the best solution”.
“This is a difficult time for everyone,” said May. “Passions are running high on all sides of the argument, but we can and must find the compromises that will deliver what the British people voted for.
“This is a decisive moment in the story of these islands and it requires national unity to deliver the national interest.”