EU bosses confirm Brexit WILL be delayed – either to April 12 with No Deal or May 22 if Theresa May gets deal through MPs

THERESA MAY last night pleaded with warring MPs to back her Brexit deal - as Brussels agreed to delay our departure.

In a humiliating summit for the PM, EU leaders said Britain could postpone Brexit until May 22 if the Commons backs her EU plan.

5

But the UK would have to leave the bloc by April 12 if the PM fails to win a majority.

Speaking last night Mrs May urged MPs to act in the national interest - saying: "We are now at the moment of decision."

"I think the time is now to deliver for the British people, the time is now to make the decision."

And she signalled her regret for her blistering attack on Parliament on Wednesday night.

She said while she was frustrated she understood MPs were frustrated too.

It came as she risked yet more anger over her own strategy, by reopening the door to a longer, softer Brexit if her deal fails.

Challenged by The Sun she admitted she the Government "would need to work with the House to decide how to proceed" if her deal falls.

Just hours earlier Ministers claimed the PM was ready to take Britain out of the EU without an agreement in place - despite doomsday warnings from business.

Separately furious Tory MPs yesterday demanded the PM "go" after her attack on Parliament on Wednesday. Insiders claimed Sir Graham Brady, the Tory 'kingpin' backbencher, had been to see the PM on Monday to tell her a growing number of MPs believe she should quit.

Arch Brexiteer MP Nigel Evans said the PM would be a "heroine" if she took the country out on No Deal. But the move would risk exploding the Conservative Party in two.

Some 18 'Remain' Ministers have already threatened to resign en masse over a No Deal.

Eight 'mid-ranking' Ministers went to see Tory chief whip Julian Smith yesterday to demand the freedom to vote for a longer extension of the Article 50 negotiating deadline in the Commons next week if the PM's deal is voted down.

NO DEAL OFF THE TABLE

In a startling volte face late last night in Brussels, Mrs May took a No Deal exit for March 29 off the table.

Vowing to introduce legislation next week to formally delay the UK’s exit date, the PM still claimed No Deal was still an option for April 12 if her deal isn’t passed.
But at the same time, the PM signaled she was ready to carry out whatever new option the Commons chooses if her deal is torpedoed – including a softer Brexit and a long delay.

That was despite insisting to MPs on Wednesday that she wouldn't allow the UK to remain in the EU beyond June 30.

Quizzed by The Sun last night if she will agree to be bound by whatever MPs decide to do next, the PM said: “I am very clear we will need to work with house how to proceed.

“The council has tonight clearly framed the choices open to people”.

Speaking just before her at midnight, EU Council boss Donald Tusk outlined four choices open to MPs – Mrs May’s deal, no deal, a long extension or cancelling Brexit altogether.

The only one of the four that the PM ruled out was the last one, an Article 50 revocation.

5

Earlier, the Mr May was forced to endure the humiliation of waiting outside a summit room for hours as feuding EU leaders carved up Brexit’s timetable without her.

The PM went to Brussels to issue a plea for a three month Brexit delay to June 30 to give her a final chance to pass her exit deal next week.

After grilling her for 90 minutes, Europe’s 27 leaders then asked her to leave.

A massive row then ignited among them over what to do, as different national bosses pitched different ideas and ripped up Mrs May’s - with all fearing her third and final ultimatum to MPs would fail.

In an embarrassment to her, Britain’s PM was left having to wait nervously for more than five hours in a nearby room with no windows, with only her No10 officials for company.

An EU official told The Sun: "When leaders asked her what she was going to do, PM May would only say she was still pursuing Plan A of getting the deal through.

"It was then they decided that she didn't have a plan so decided they would need to come up with one for her."

EU BREXIT DATE FEUD

Another EU source told The Sun it was “lively in the room” of the 27 leaders as a battle royal raged late into the night.

EU Council chief Donald Tusk initially proposed offering the UK an extension until at least May 22, regardless of whether or not she gets her deal through Parliament.

At the insistence of the room's doves - Germany, the Netherlands and Poland - another plan was then pitched to offer a long delay with no final limit on it.

Instead, they vented the possibility of two different delays – dubbed a Flextension – a short one of a few months if the deal is passed by MPs on Tuesday, and a longer one of nine months if it falls.

But Emmanuel Macron lead another group of leaders including Belgium who insisted on a harder line, saying Britain should be made to leave the club by May 7 no matter what.

The French president picked the date because it would mean the UK being out before the EU27 holds a crucial summit on its future direction in Romania on May 9.

With still no agreement by 8pm, the talks – which started at 3.30pm - spilled into dinner, which had previously been earmarked for a major discussion about strategic relations with China.

It meant leaders dined on green lentil terrine with langoustine, roast duckling à l'orange with parsnip mousseline and glazed carrots and chocolate variations, again without the PM who was initially due to join them.

As the EU leaders tucked into their three course dinner, some took pity on hungry Mrs May and sent out her servings to her on a silver service tray.

Her No10 aides had to resort to ordering in pizza.

An EU diplomat told The Sun: "The unity of the 27 was broken for the very first time."

Earlier Mrs May had addressed her fellow leaders for over an hour in a performance that diplomats panned as "unconvincing".

One EU source said: "It wasn’t clear if she has a plan B, if she has a plan at all.

"She’s still convinced she can get this vote through. No leaders believe that because the conditions aren’t different."

The PM was also repeatedly asked by several leaders what she would do if MPs voted the deal down.

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

But she was described as “evasive” and “tight-lipped”.

Another diplomat added: "We’re running out of time and it’s not clear what’s going to happen next.

"It's 99% sure leaders will need to come back next week. That will be the real Council. Today is just an appetiser."

The two-day leaders’ meeting was supposed to be the last EU summit for Britain in its 45 years as an EU member – but even that remained unclear.

Earlier on arriving in Brussels, Mr Macron turned the screw on MPs to declare there will be “No Deal for sure” in seven days time if they torpedo it for the third and final time on Tuesday.

Mr Macron also said a short delay if Mrs May’s deal passes to give Commons the time to push through all the necessary laws “must be as short as possible”.

He added: “In case of a negative British vote, we would go to a No Deal for sure.

“We cannot have an excessive extension because it affects our ability to decide and act.

You decided to leave - you want us to be the bad guy - we are not in a souk where we are going to be bargaining for the next five years

Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg's testy PM

“We are ready for Brexit. France didn’t chose this. The British people did.”

Luxembourg’s testy PM Xavier Bettel backed him up, saying: “You decided to leave - you want us to be the bad guy - we are not in a souk where we are going to be bargaining for the next five years”.

Traders took fright at Mr Macron’s words, and the Pound fell by one per cent against the Dollar, leaving it worth $1.3004 at the end of the day.

But Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel took a far softer line, and vowed before the summit started to fight "until the last hour" to try and ensure Britain doesn't leave the European Union without a deal.

In a clear hint that she would be ready to then offer a longer delay, Mrs Merkel added: “We will work until the last day — I will say until the last hour — to ensure that this emergency planning doesn't come into effect.

“We will do everything in the remaining, admittedly few, days to achieve an orderly, joint solution."

In a sign of the trouble ahead, Mrs May hastily arranged a meeting with Mr Macron for the summit’s margins.

She also had a bilateral meeting with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

MOST READ IN POLITICS

TRUCE CALL

Top Tory calls for Kemi Badenoch to end her war of words with Nigel Farage

TOP TRUMPS

Keir Starmer hopes to visit Donald Trump within a month of him taking office

CITY SLICKER

Labour insiders want Dragons Den star Deborah Meaden to be City Hall candidate

JAMES JOHNSON

Nigel Farage can become PM - but it will take him two or even three elections

Under EU law, the decision to delay Brexit has to be taken unanimously by Mrs May and all 27 other EU leaders.

Asked when the EU would run out of patience with the Brexit saga, EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker joked: "I didn’t even know I had this much patience".

Earlier yesterday, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned MPs the only other alternative if they reject the deal again will be a long delay with tough conditions from the EU such as a second referendum.

5

5

5