Brexit news: Theresa May tells MPs to ‘get on with it’ as she turns up pressure on parliament to force through deal
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has risked the anger of MPs after she blamed them for forcing her to ask the EU for a "short delay" to Brexit.
In a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk, the prime minister asked for a three-month extension to Article 50 negotiation process, pushing the scheduled date to leave the EU from 29 March to 30 June.
However Mr Tusk put his foot down, saying he would grant the delay but only if MPs backed Ms May's Brexit deal.
Some hours later Ms May used a televised address to accuse the Commons of having tried everything to avoid making a decision on whether it wanted to leave the block with a deal, crash out without one or not leave at all.
From Downing Street she told voters she was "on your side", adding that she believed "You're tired of the infighting, you're tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children's schools, our National Health Service, knife crime."
"You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree," she said.
In response the PM was accused of being "toxic" and even of risking her colleagues' safety.
It meant that Ms May must now find a way of putting her deal before parliament for the third time, with no clear evidence that MPs will back it after twice voting it down by crushing margins.
If the deal fails again there is a significant chance she could resign, having told MPs earlier in the day she could not be the leader to impose a lengthy delay to Brexit.
See below how we covered the day's events live
Tory MP Richard Drax asks what guarantees the PM can give that the UK will in fact leave the EU on June 30, as she has suggested.
The PM says agreeing the extension is a matter for the European Council.
A breaking story from Europe - The European Commission opposes Theresa May's plan to delay Brexit until 30 June, according to a leaked internal EU diplomatic note.
The review of the Brexit situation says EU leaders will face a "binary" choice of a short extension to Article 50 to before May 23, or a long delay to at least the end of this year.
More here:
One of the key moments from PMQs, when Theresa May told MPs that she could not allow a longer delay as prime minister.
Here's our post-match analysis of today's PMQs clash from top commentators Andy Grice and John Rentoul.
Theresa May has strongly hinted she will quit if forced to accept a long delay to Brexit, dramatically staking her premiership on tomorrow’s EU summit.
“As prime minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than 30 June,” she told MPs – later repeating the statement to drive home the message.
Britain is due to leave the EU in nine days time, with or without a deal, but after MPs voted against a no-deal exit, and also against the exit deal negotiated by Theresa May, the government has requested an extension to the Brexit deadline.
As the European Union mulls whether to grant the extension, a snap poll by YouGov indicates 61 per cent of the population would vote to remain in the EU rather than for Theresa May’s deal (39 per cent) if a referendum offering those options were called.
More here:
At this afternoon's briefing for Westminster journalists, Theresa May's aides repeatedly failed to give a clear answer on whether her words definitely meant she would resign rather than seek a long extension.
Asked if she would step down, her spokesman said:
“She believes that what she has set out in the letter, and what she’s asking for in terms of that short extension to the 30 June, is the best way of seeing the deal ratified.
“She believes that is manifestly in the interests of the people of this country and that is her focus.”
Asked again he said:
“I think it’s important that the PM sends a very clear signal about her view of the right way forward and I think that is precisely what she’s done by saying…she doesn’t believe a long extension is the right thing to do, she doesn’t think more navel gazing will help solve the problem, so she’s sending a strongest signal about her opinion, which is we need to get this done, we need to deliver for people and that means not delaying it beyond the date.”
Pushed again, the spokesman said: “What you should infer is her determination to get this over the line.”
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