Theresa May has today admitted she has asked the EU to delay Brexit - having said 108 times Britain would leave on March 29
Brexit in three months or I could QUIT: May tells MPs she won’t delay leaving the EU beyond June 30 as she reveals letter asking for a short extension to hold another vote on her deal
Theresa May today confirmed she has asked the EU to delay Brexit until June 30 – and gave a strong indication that she could quit if the UK has not left the bloc after that three-month extension.
The Prime Minister also revealed she will bring back her ailing deal for a third time ‘as soon as possible’ in a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk which also suggested she will try to introduce new reassurances on the Irish border backstop to win over Brexiteers and the DUP.
Mrs May told the Commons today that Britain is ‘fed up’ of waiting to quit the EU and said it would be ‘quite wrong’ if the public is asked to vote in the June European election three years after they voted to leave the bloc.
Hinting any further delay
As it stands, Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29. May will on Thursday go to Brussels and ask for an extension to that date after failing to win backing for her Brexit deal. If the EU does not agree to a delay, the UK will leave the EU without a deal next Friday.
Mrs May has promised the EU she will try to pass her Brexit deal ‘as soon as possible’ and use the delay to make it law. If the EU refuses to offer a delay tomorrow, she could try again to pass her deal next week and then call for an emergency second summit to get a delay to implement it.
In a plea to MPs who have voted her deal down twice already she said in the Commons today: ‘This House spending endless hours contemplating its navel on Europe. This House has indulged itself on Europe for too long. The British people deserve better’.
But minutes later, in an extraordinary attack on his own Prime Minister, Tory backbencher Peter Bone told Mrs May in PMQs that she will be ‘betraying’ the nation ‘if we don’t leave on March 29’ and warned that ‘history will judge’ her decision to delay having told the Commons 108 times that the UK would leave on time.
Mrs May last night abandoned her plan to ask the EU for a nine-month Brexit delay or longer after furious Brexiteer cabinet ministers threatened to quit and told her the Tory party would only accept a wait until June.
This morning she spoke to Mr Juncker who reportedly told her that the EU would only consider a short extension until on May 22 to avoid Britain having to take part in European elections – or the delay will have to be up to two years.
The PM has now published the letter sent to Donald Tusk today, which says Britain needs a delay until June 30 to pass and legislate for her deal – and it also blasts Commons Speaker John Bercow for making it ‘impossible’ to hold a third meaningful vote on her deal before the summit.
She appealed for the EU Council – which includes the leaders of all EU states – to formally adopt the three extra documents agreed with Mr Juncker last week to pass Mr Bercow’s ruling on a new vote being on a ‘substantially different’ purpose.
Mrs May’s letter said: ‘If the motion is passed, I am confident that Parliament will proceed to ratify the deal constructively. But this will clearly not be completed before March 29, 2019.’
Admitting the timetable was ‘uncertain’ she said: ‘I am therefore writing to inform the European Council that the UK is seeking an extension to the Article 50 until June 30 2019.’
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This is Theresa May’s letter to Donald Tusk begging for a delay and asking them for help to ensure her deal can be voted on for a third time after John Bercow made it ‘impossible’ not