Brexit: EU to insist short article 50 extension should end on 23 May – Politics live

Theresa May writes to the EU asking to delay Brexit until 30 June, and tells MPs at PMQs public would find long delay unacceptableFull story: May asks EU for Brexit delay until 30 JuneJuncker raises prospect of emergency Brexit summit next weekExplainer: what happens next?PMQs verdict 1.40pm GMT Here are some lines from the Number 10 post-PMQs briefing.From my colleague Heather StewartMay’s spox refuses four times to say whether her words today imply that she would resign rather than implement a longer extension. “What you are seeing is the extent of the PM’s determination to deliver Brexit”.Downing St also won’t say if the decision to request a 3 month delay was ratified by Cabinet. “There was a long discussion on Brexit at cabinet yesterday.” Adds, “the final form of the letter, as it was discussed with Juncker, and as it was sent, was decided today”.No 10 confirms that Government will facilitate on Monday MPs getting a say on future relationship BUT won’t say whether third meaningful vote would come first – only that letter says she wants that ASAP. Vote on extension via unamendable SI expected to take 1/2 days. 1.32pm GMT The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, is seeking to limit the Brexit delay until the 23 May, to avoid the possibility of the UK remaining a member state but without MEPs. A spokesman said Juncker had in a call told the prime minister, who has set the 30 June as her preferred end date to an extension in her letter of request, that the British would need to have representatives in the European parliament if it stayed a member state into June. The spokesman said:President Juncker said to the prime minister that he thinks it’s a good idea she sets out her thoughts to the leaders ahead of the EU Council.However, the president has clearly warned the prime minister against including a date for the extension that will be after the European parliament elections. That’s why he repeated in this call his advice, which he set out in his letter on March 11, that the withdrawal has to be complete before May 23, otherwise we risk facing institutional difficulties and legal uncertainty, given the European elections date. Continue reading…
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