EU Summit: Brexit Showdown as May seeks Article 50 delay

By Staff, Agencies

European Union leaders will gather in Brussels on Wednesday to decide on whether to allow a further Brexit delay — and for how long.

The summit comes a few weeks after EU27 leaders agreed to a Brexit extension until April 12. Had British PM Theresa May managed to get her Withdrawal Agreement through parliament it would have been May 22 - but she failed to do so. Following this, she wrote to EU Council President Donald Tusk, requesting an extension until June 30.

Last night in a letter, Tusk urged member states to consider an extension lasting up to one year.

"Importantly, a long extension would provide more certainty and predictability by removing the threat of constantly shifting cliff-edge dates. Furthermore, in the event of a continued stalemate, such a longer extension would allow the UK to rethink its Brexit strategy," wrote Tusk.

But pushback is expected by some leaders, including France's Emmanuel Macron, who has been resistant to further delays until the UK is able to break its own political impasse and identify a way forward.

May is facing a bitter backlash within her party over the likelihood of a long delay to Brexit and participation in EU elections, especially if that leads to any sort of deal with Labor involving a customs union.

Four cabinet ministers – Andrea Leadsom, Chris Grayling, Liam Fox and Geoffrey Cox – were among more than half of Conservative MPs who refused to back a June extension to article 50 in a vote on Tuesday, underlining the plummeting support for May within her own party.

In a damning indictment of Downing Street’s strategy, Tusk claimed the EU’s “experience so far, as well as the deep divisions within the House of Commons, give us little reason to believe that the ratification process can be completed by the end of June”.