Brexit: EU to agree delay if May agrees new referendum

EU leaders will reportedly allow Theresa May to delay Brexit if she agrees on a second referendum or softens her withdrawal deal.

Theresa May, first row centre, laughs during the Brexit debate this morning. Picture: AP.

EU leaders will reportedly allow Theresa May to delay Brexit only if she agrees to hold a second referendum or soften her withdrawal deal.

Senior EU officials have already told the British PM that conditions for an extension to the Article 50 process — which MPs voted to pass early this morning AEDT — would include the option of a second Brexit vote, according to The Times of London.

Mrs May was overwhelmingly supported by parliament to request a short technical extension until June 30 if her withdrawal deal is agreed by March 20, or, if no deal is agreed, for a longer extension.

She is expected to take her withdrawal deal back to the Commons for the third time next week and, if it passes, ask a summit of EU leaders next week for a delay to Brexit.

However the UK Telegraph reports that a “Star Chamber” of legally trained Brexiteers has already rejected fresh advice from Attorney-General Geoffrey Cox, over the Irish backstop which could have got the deal over the line.

If the deal fails on the third vote, Mrs May will have no choice but to request a long extension, which would mean the UK being forced to enter the EU elections on May 23.

All 27 members of the European Council would have to agree a lengthy postponement but The Times reports that momentum is growing across the EU for this option to give the UK a “long reflection period.”

Donald Tusk, president of the European council, and a strong supporter of a second referendum, is pushing for the longer postponement so the UK can “rethink its Brexit strategy and build consensus around it.”

Mr Tusk, who will chair next week’s summit, will tell EU leaders that an extension of at least a year will bring the opportunity for Britain’s political course to be changed, according to The Times.

Montenegro's President Milo Djukanovic (L) and the President of the European Council Donald Tusk (R) in a meeting at the European Council. Picture: AFP.

Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, said this morning the UK needed a “long reflection period” lasting “21 months, to the end of 2020, or whatever the period would be”.

He added: “We’re essentially looking for, we will look for, a much longer extension to allow Britain to rethink its approach to Brexit.”

The Times points out that this choice of words is highly significant because the term “period of reflection” was used after Ireland voted against the EU’s Lisbon Treaty in 2008 to build pressure for a second referendum, which was held, to reverse it just over a year later. It was also used after the French and Dutch referendums, reheating the EU’s constitutional treaty in 2005 before in effect reversing the result with the almost identical Lisbon Treaty two years later.

Mrs May has been told of the conditions in private talks over recent days with other European leaders and senior EU figures, including Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president.

The EU will insist that any extension must be used to decide between the options of a second referendum, cancelling Brexit or dropping the government’s red lines on exiting the single market and customs union.

Mr Tusk lamented last month that the chance of a second referendum had receded and British MPs are also discussing the option as a real possibility after the fiasco of this week.

The Times reports that the EU Council and the European Commission have written off Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement while the government pursues the same strategy.

While the conditions are unlikely to be publicly stated, they will be billed as a more neutral “period of reflection,” according to The Times.

Germany is most open to a delay and France is the most resistant unless Britain agrees to certain strings being attached.