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British PM to seek short Brexit delay: report
LONDON, March 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – British Prime Minister Theresa May,
frustrated with MPs’ indecision, will ask Brussels on Wednesday for a short
delay to Brexit, the BBC reported, citing a Downing Street official.
With lawmakers deadlocked over the way forward on Britain’s 2016
referendum decision to leave the European Union — scheduled to take place in
just nine days’ time — May will ask for a short delay, the BBC said.
“PM won’t be asking for a long extension,” it quoted a Downing Street
official as saying on the eve of a summit with EU leaders in Brussels.
“There is a case for giving parliament a bit more time to agree a way
forward, but the people of this country have been waiting nearly three years
now.
“They are fed up with parliament’s failure to take a decision and the PM
shares their frustration.”
Exasperated European leaders are demanding London tell them clearly what
it wants, warning that the risk still remains that Britain could crash out of
the bloc on March 29, ending its 46-year membership without formal
arrangements.
The British premier is struggling to keep control of the Brexit process
after MPs last week decisively rejected the EU divorce deal for a second
time.
She has reluctantly accepted that Brexit must be postponed, amid fears of
an economic shock if Britain ends its membership of the EU with no new
arrangements in place.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1432 hrs