May requests 3 months Brexit delay, EU pushes back

Prime Minister Theresa May asked for a three-month delay to Brexit on Wednesday to buy time to get her twice-rejected divorce deal through parliament, but the request faced immediate resistance from the European Commission.

May said Britain remained committed to leaving the European Union "in an orderly manner" and she wanted to postpone Britain's departure to June 30. Meanwhile, she also expressed her opposition against a long delay.

"As prime minister I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June," May told the parliament.

"I have therefore this morning written to President Tusk, the president of the European Council, informing him that the UK seeks an extension to the Article 50 period until the 30th June," she said.

May also said she planned to ask parliament to vote a third time on her departure deal, which lawmakers have already voted down twice. She didn't say when the vote would happen. But May did say delaying Brexit did not rule out the possibility that Britain could leave without a deal.

Pro-Brexit activist Joseph Afrane holds a placard and waves a Union flag as he demonstrates outside the Houses of Parliament in central London, March 20, 2019. /VCG Photo

The opposition Labour Party, on the other hand, condemning May's proposal of a short delay, saying it was forcing British lawmakers to decide between accepting a deal they have already rejected or leaving without a deal.

Moreover, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Wednesday that he would travel to Brussels to meet EU leaders and officials on Thursday, the day when Prime Minister Theresa May is seeking approval for her request for a delay to Brexit.

EU pushes back

For its part, the EU said any extension should either be until May 23, the date of the European Parliament elections, or at least until the end of the year, which would require Britain to take part in those elections. May said it was not in Britain's interests to take part in European elections.

"Any extension offered to the United Kingdom should either last until 23 May 2019 or should be significantly longer and require European elections," the EU document said.

"This is the only way of protecting the functioning of the EU institutions and their ability to take decisions." The document also said the EU should offer Britain just one extension as multiple delays would leave the bloc in limbo.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (L) talks with European Council President Donald Tusk (R) during an EU Tripartite Social Summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels, March 20, 2019. /VCG Photo

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had warned May against requesting a Brexit delay beyond the European elections, unless Britain takes part, an EU spokeswoman said.

EU leaders are expected to discuss May's request for a Brexit delay at a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

Juncker said earlier the EU had done much to accommodate Britain and could go no further. "There will be no renegotiations, no new negotiations, no additional guarantees in addition to those already given," he told Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio. "We have intensively moved towards Britain, there can be no more."

(Cover: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May listening to a question from the opposition benches during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) question and answer session in the House of Commons in London, March 20, 2019. /VCG Photo)