'Matter of great personal regret': May asks Brussels for Brexit delay

London: UK Prime Minister Theresa May has sought to place the blame for her country’s Brexit political stalemate and constitutional crisis squarely on the nation’s parliament.

On Wednesday night she addressed the nation accusing members of parliament of playing “political games” and holding “arcane procedural rows”.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement inside number 10 Downing Street. Credit: Bloomberg

She was seeking to explain her decision to ask Brussels for a short delay to Brexit past its March 29 deadline – a deadline she had insisted she would meet 108 times in parliament, one Conservative MP pointed out.

“MPs have been unable to agree on a way to implement the UK’s withdrawal (from the EU),” May said, from the 10 Downing St podium.

Illustration: Matt GoldingCredit:

“We will now not leave [the EU] on time with a deal on 29 March. This delay is a matter of great personal regret for me.

She did not confine her complaints to any particular party, apparently including her own Conservative colleagues in the attack.

“I am absolutely sure you the public have had enough. You are tired of the infighting. You are tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows. Tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit… you want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with.

“I agree. I am on your side.”

After the government twice failed to get parliamentary approval for the Brexit divorce deal it has done with the European Union – defeated by opposition MPs and also many on May's own side - the only options are now a damaging “no deal” Brexit, or a delay.

An anti-Brexit campaigner stands outside the entrance to Downing Street with flags and a banner.Credit: AP

May sent a letter to EU leaders on Wednesday setting out a plan to bring the divorce deal back to parliament for a third time before the end of the month: political pundits are tipping Monday. She asked for delay to the Brexit date to June 2019 to allow time for necessary legal consequences should it pass.

She did not outline a plan for what would happen if the deal is again voted down. Previously the government has indicated a longer delay would be required to take stock and decide a new course.

However in parliament on Wednesday May said “as prime minister I could not consider a delay beyond 30th June”, saying a long delay would mean “endless hours and days of this House carrying on contemplating its navel on Europe”.

This has been interpreted as saying she would resign rather than renegotiate or rethink the Brexit divorce deal.

It could also mean she is resigned to embracing a “no deal” Brexit predicted to cause large economic damage to the UK and cause chaos at its borders – including food and medicine shortages.

Earlier this week the Commons speaker ruled that a "substantially" identical divorce deal could not come back for another vote, however there should be procedural ways the government could avoid this rule.

The divorce deal, technically the Withdrawal Agreement agreed between the UK government and the EU in November, was designed to settle debts, separate EU and UK laws, keep the Ireland border free of new checkpoints and provide a long, smooth transition into the post-Brexit world for business and industry while a new trade and customs relationship is negotiated.

A new poll released on Wednesday found that 90 per cent of Britons considered the Brexit process so far to have been a “national humiliation”.

A poll found that 90 per cent of Britons considered the Brexit process so far to have been a 'national humiliation'.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper said the blame for the stalemate rested with the prime minister who was “in the worst state of denial, refusing to listen to anyone, just still doing the same thing again and again, no plan B, heading stubbornly towards the cliff edge.”

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said Wednesday marked 1000 days since the Brexit referendum and “the government have led the country and themselves into crisis, chaos and division”.

“Months of running down the clock and a concerted campaign of blackmail, bullying and bribery have failed to convince the House or the country that her deal is anything but a damaging national failure and should be rejected,” he said.

A member of the Conservative party’s pro-Brexit wing, MP Mark Francois, said his colleagues were “solid” on rejecting the divorce deal again if it was put to another vote.

An anti-Brexit placard outside the Houses of Parliament in London.Credit: AP

“We’ve read it and we know it means we don’t leave the EU,” he said – referring to fears the deal could leave the UK trapped in a customs union with the EU due to the complication of the Irish border.

European Council president Donald Tusk said on Wednesday he had consulted with EU leaders and “a short extension” to the Brexit deadline would be possible, “but it will be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons”.

The leaders will meet to formally take that decision later this week. Tusk did not specifically mention the option of a longer delay, however he held open the option of an emergency meeting of EU leaders next week.

“Even if the hope for a final success may seem frail, even illusory, and although Brexit fatigue is increasingly visible and justified, we cannot give up seeking – until the very last moment – a positive solution,” he said.

France’s foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday France would oppose any Brexit delay that didn’t come with a “credible plan” to ratify the withdrawal agreement.

Without that “the central scenario is a no-deal exit [and] we are ready for it”, he said.

Also on Wednesday, Commons speaker John Bercow opened the possibility of an emergency session of parliament this Saturday to deal with Brexit developments.

Reportedly the last time the Commons sat on a Saturday was over the invasion of the Falklands, and even then it finished mid-afternoon so MPs could watch the Grand National race.