LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday she would ask the EU to again delay Brexit to avoid Britain crashing out of the bloc next week, signalling she could accept a closer relationship with Europe to break months of political deadlock.After more than seven hours of talks with her ministers, May said she would request a delay that was “as short as possible and which ends when we pass a deal” through the British parliament.In a move likely to enrage the Brexit-supporting wing of her Conservative party, she also offered to work with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who favours closer ties with the European Union. “This is a decisive moment in the story of these islands. And it requires national unity to deliver the national interest,” May said in a televised address.Brussels has set Britain an April 12 deadline to either pass the divorce deal it agreed with May four months ago, settle on an alternative, or depart the EU without an agreement.In reality, the deadline is even closer as the EU has called an emergency leaders once more has control over the Commons timetable, Sir Oliver will table a paving motion for approval by MPs which would allow debate and votes on Cooper’s bill on Thursday.The single-clause bill requires May to table a motion seeking MPs’ approval for an extension to the Article 50 process of Brexit talks to a date of her choosing. The group behind the bill, which also includes former Tory chair Dame Caroline Spelman, Commons Brexit Committee chair Hilary Benn, former attorney general Dominic Grieve and Liberal Democrat Norman Lamb, aims to push it through all of its Commons stages on Thursday, and hopes the House of Lords would then grant its approval in time for an emergency EU summit on April 10.Cooper said: “We are now in a really dangerous situation with a serious and growing risk of no-deal in 10 days’ time. The Prime Minister has a responsibility to prevent that happening. She needs to put forward a proposal, including saying how long an extension she thinks we need to sort things out.“If the government won’t act urgently, then Parliament has a responsibility to try to ensure that happens even though we are right up against the deadline. Parliament has tried to jam into two days a process of finding consensus that I wish the Prime Minister had started two years ago.But right now nothing has been agreed. So that means that whatever happens in the next few days, the UK needs an extension beyond April 12 if we are to avoid the damage and chaos of no-deal. For the sake of jobs, public services and our national security we need to avert no-deal.”Sir Oliver added: “This is a last-ditch attempt to prevent our country being exposed to the risks inherent in a no-deal exit. We realise this is difficult. But it is definitely worth trying.”
04-03-2019, 02:39 PM
May asks for new Brexit delay to approve deal
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