appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Associated Press

Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday lamented that Britain would not leave the European Union under her agreement with Brussels as planned, placing the blame on lawmakers for failing to stick to the March 29 exit date.
“(Members of Parliament) have been unable to agree on a way to implement the UK’s withdrawal. As a result, we will now not leave on time with a deal on the 29th of March,” May said in a televised speech at her Downing Street residence.
She called the delay “a matter of great personal regret for me”.
With no consensus in London over how – or in some cases whether – to deliver Brexit, and as frustration grows in Brussels, May said: “All MPs have been willing to say is what they do not want.”

Mit dem Brief von Theresa May ist noch kein Problem gelöst. Wenn der Europäische Rat über eine Fristverlängerung für Großbritannien entscheiden soll, dann wüssten wir gern mit welcher konkreten Perspektive. #Brexit
— Heiko Maas (@HeikoMaas) March 20, 2019

Earlier Wednesday, May wrote a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk requesting a delay of Britain’s departure from the European Union until June 30.
In her speech, she said she was “not prepared to delay Brexit any further” than that date.
Tusk said a short Brexit extension could be possible if the British Parliament approves the divorce deal the EU agreed with May.
However, lawmakers already rejected that deal by large margins last week and in mid-January.
“I believe that a short extension will be possible, but it will be conditional on a positive vote on the withdrawal agreement in the House of Commons,” Tusk said, referring to Britain’s elected main house of Parliament.
Tusk questioned the length of any extension, noting that May’s proposed date of June 30 “creates a series of questions of a legal and political nature.”
May has told Parliament she does not want a longer extension that could involve Britain taking part in elections to the European Parliament in late May, as doing so would fail to honour the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum, in which 52 per cent of voters favoured leaving the EU.
However, the European Commission argued that any Brexit delay beyond May 23 – the day when Europeans start going to the polls – would require Britain to participate.

In an emergency debate, the opposition Labour Party’s Keir Starmer had said Britain should seek a longer extension to “provide time for Parliament to find a different approach”.
Starmer said May’s plan for a third vote on her deal next week was “just the same deal to be brought back again”.
He said May herself is the main “obstacle” to finding a way forward.
In a phone call earlier Wednesday, commission President Jean-Claude Juncker “clearly warned the prime minister” against an extension date after the EU elections, his spokesman Margaritis Schinas said.
The final decision on any Brexit extension rests with EU leaders, who are meeting for a summit in Brussels starting Thursday.

It’s time for Parliament to determine that it will deliver on Brexit.
The British people deserve better than Parliament has given them so far. pic.twitter.com/wMxg40xRkl
— Theresa May (@theresa_may) March 20, 2019

In Paris, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France would prefer a no-deal Brexit if May cannot show how she will win parliamentary approval.
May faced strong opposition to her plan to extend Brexit in Parliament on Wednesday, where pro-EU lawmakers argued the delay was too short and euroskeptics in her Conservative Party objected to any delay.
Meet John Bercow, UK Commons Speaker who wrecked Theresa May’s Brexit plans
Ken Clarke, a veteran pro-EU Conservative, said Parliament had still had no opportunity to vote on alternatives to May’s deal, including the option of Britain remaining in a customs union with the EU.
Clarke urged May to hold indicative votes next week on different options, “to see where the majority lies”.
May said she plans to set out her latest position on Brexit at Thursday’s EU summit.


Revolt against UK’s Starmer revives bitter debate over undoing Brexit

UK health minister quits, calls for leadership contest to oust PM Starmer

UK’s Starmer to ‘get on with governing’, defies calls to quit

In China at a time of geopolitical flux, I feel right at home

Brexit

British Prime Minister Theresa May ‘regretfully’ abandons March 29 Brexit plan as EU mulls more time for talks

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May leaves from the rear of 10 Downing Street in London. Photo: AFP

President of the European Council Donald Tusk is seen at the start of EU Tripartite Social Summit in Brussels, Belgium March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

Theresa May to beg EU leaders for Brexit delay after speaker’s bombshell vote ban leaves British cabinet in ‘crisis’

An anti-Brexit protester holds placards outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, on March 19, 2019. Photo: Xinhua/Stephen Chung

epa07448657 European Council President Donald Tusk (L) at Government Buildings in Dublin, Ireland, 19 March 2019 for talks with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (not pictured), ahead of the European Council summit later in the week. EPA-EFE/NIALL CARSON / POOL

A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament's Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows Speaker of The House of Commons John Bercow as he makes a statement in the House of Commons in London on March 18, 2019, on the ability of the Government to hold another meaningful vote on the government's Brexit deal. - Britain's government scrambled Monday to convince Brexit hardliners to give in at last and back Prime Minister Theresa May's EU divorce deal, though several opponents were refusing to blink. (Photo by HO / various sources / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT " AFP PHOTO / PRU " - NO USE FOR ENTERTAINMENT, SATIRICAL, MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 file photo European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker prepares to shake hands with British Prime Minister Theresa May before their meeting at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

News

World

Europe

Theresa May had submitted a formal letter requesting a three-month extension of article 50
European Council President Donald Tusk said a short Brexit extension could be possible if the British Parliament approves the divorce deal


Theresa May had submitted a formal letter requesting a three-month extension of article 50, with European Council President Donald Tusk saying that a short Brexit extension could be possible.


European Union

Theresa May

Britain