Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to members of Parliament in the House of Commons in London on March 20. </caption>
LONDON — One thousand days after British voters said they wanted to leave the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May conceded Wednesday that she now must ask E.U. leaders to delay Brexit for three months — because Parliament has failed to pass her unloved deal for departure.
Standing in the House of Commons, May blamed lawmakers for the impasse. Parliament has twice overwhelmingly rejected the withdrawal agreement she spent two years negotiating with her European counterparts. But it has also said it does not want to see Britain crash out of the trading bloc without a deal, and so now it appears to be paralyzed.
A visibly frustrated May said she would seek only a short extension, until June 30. If the delay were longer, Britain as a member of the European Union would have to participate in upcoming elections for the European Parliament.
A longer delay would also provide “endless hours and days of this House carrying on, contemplating its navel on Europe,” May warned, underscoring her contention that Parliament, not her government, is responsible for the chaos.
“The British people deserve better than this House has given them so far,” she said.
The prime minister’s cutting remarks were met with hoots and jeers, even by members of her Conservative Party, whose rebels have not only voted against her Brexit plan but tried to unseat her.
[Brexit is breaking the British Parliament. Can the damage be repaired?]
Many lawmakers blame May for the shambles of Brexit, accusing her of weak leadership, ineffective communication, a failure to seek consensus early on — and an unsatisfactory deal that they fear could yoke Britain to E.U. rules and regulations forever.
In a letter delivered Wednesday to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, May wrote that she was “confident” the House of Commons would eventually approve her tweaked withdrawal agreement, but not by March 29, when Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union.
May will now travel hat in hand on Thursday to a summit of skeptical European leaders in Brussels.
10 Downing Street
AFP/Getty Images
The two-page letter Prime Minister Theresa May sent to European Council President Donald Tusk, asking European leaders to delay Brexit until June 30, 2019.
The prime minister is struggling to persuade 10 members of the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, which props up her minority government, to back her deal. The thinking is that if the DUP swings behind her, some hardcore Brexiteers in her own party may hold their noses and back her plan.
May told Parliament that even if an extension is granted, a “no deal” Brexit wasn’t off the table; instead, the cliff edge would simply be pushed back.
That alarmed some lawmakers who think that exiting the bloc without a deal would be economically disastrous for the country. Samuel Gyimah, a Conservative lawmaker, told the BBC that a short extension “increased chances of a ‘no deal’ by 60 percent” and that it was “downright reckless” of the government to keep it as an option.
British reporters were told by 10 Downing Street that May might try to pass a revised deal as early as next week. But the prime minister learned Monday that the speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, will not let her bring a recycled plan back for a third vote — unless it is “substantially” different.
[British leaders struggle to deliver Brexit after being tripped up by obscure parliamentary rule]
In Brussels, astonished diplomats increasingly expect an extension not to be decided until late next week. E.U. leaders may have to convene in the waning hours before Britain crashes out of the European Union as March 29 turns to March 30, some diplomats said.
A reporter asked European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker about next steps for British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal March 19 in Brussels.
Although people involved in the negotiations said Wednesday that there was little appetite to eject Britain against its will, they were increasingly fearful that further surprises in London could lead to what one senior E.U. diplomat called “catastrophe.”
“All we have done, leading to nowhere,” the diplomat said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss calculations ahead of the meeting Thursday. “The blame game will be a very nasty one, of course. Who caused it? I think we all know the answer, but it can very easily be turned against the E.U.”
May’s short extension request left E.U. leaders facing a tricky decision: whether to grant the delay when they are unsure she can get the divorce deal approved by her own parliament. Many E.U. leaders would prefer to have certainty — or to give a longer extension, a step that would need May’s consent.
If the European Union were to offer a delay but the House of Commons then rejected the deal a third time, “then we are, I’m sorry to say, in God’s hands,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told Deutschlandfunk radio on Wednesday, before May submitted her request. “But I think even God has a limit to his patience.”
He said leaders would probably need to meet again next week to make a final decision on an extension.
One major concern in Europe about a short extension is that if Britain failed to take part in late-May elections for the European Parliament but then asked for yet more time at the end of June, the legal consequences could affect the basic functioning of European institutions.
Any E.U. citizen could potentially challenge laws passed by the new European Parliament, for example, since E.U. treaties require that all European citizens have the chance to vote and elect representatives to the body. Diplomats also worry that if British policymakers still have a say in E.U. decisions, they could hold unrelated deliberations hostage to demand Brexit concessions.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and British Prime Minister Theresa May accused each other of disrespecting democracy at a fiery session of Parliament March 20.
The European Commission believes a June 30 Brexit delay poses serious risks, and Juncker “formally warned” May in a Wednesday phone call that she should not seek an extension later than the May 23 European elections if Britain does not plan to participate in them, Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Wednesday. May ignored the warning. The Commission, the E.U.’s bureaucratic arm, was charged with negotiating the divorce deal, but it does not speak directly on behalf of the leaders who will ultimately decide whether to grant the extension.
Speaking during a heated session in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition party, said: “Today marks 1,000 days since the referendum, and this government has led the country and themselves into crisis, chaos and division.”
May’s “concerted campaign of blackmail, bullying and bribery,” Corbyn said, had failed to win over Parliament.
There was — again — renewed speculation over how long May can hold onto power. Lawmakers wondered what she meant when she said, “As prime minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30.”
Tolga Akmen
AFP/Getty Images
Cabinet ministers leave 10 Downing Street after a meeting with the prime minister.
Birnbaum reported from Brussels. Quentin Ariès in Brussels and Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/britains-may-asks-eu-for-three-month-brexit-delay/2019/03/20/142de48a-4b05-11e9-93d0-64dbcf38ba41_story.html
2019-03-20 15:33:53Z
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