May asks the EU to delay Brexit while the government is in deadlock over the "crisis" | Policy

Theresa May will be forced to write to European leaders on Wednesday to urge them to defer the Brexit, while her government is in the stalemate on the best way out of what Downing Street admits to be a "crisis".

The government had maintained until the last possible moment that the Brexit could proceed as planned on March 29 or after a brief "technical extension".

But after President John Bercow decided that the prime minister could not impose his agreement on Parliament for a third "meaningful vote," his spokesman acknowledged that it was too late to leave with an agreement.

He added that May would write to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, to request an extension of Article 50, before European leaders meet Thursday in Brussels. He refused to say how long she would ask, or for what purpose, just insist: "You will have to wait until this letter is published."

Asked that May agrees with Solicitor General Robert Buckland, who described the situation after Bercow's decision Monday as a "constitutional crisis," his spokesman said: "If you go back on the speech pronounced by the Prime Minister, just before credit two, she said that if the deputies did not support the two significant vote, we would be in crisis.Yesterday events tell you that this situation has occurred. "

Ministers discussed Brexit for about 90 minutes in a number of meetings where, according to several sources, cabinet ministers held a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Insiders said the opinion was divided more or less equally between those who favored a short three-month extension, leaving the prospect of a Brexit without agreement this summer, and those who wanted a delay. much longer. Several sources said the ministers were leaving cabinet without specifying May's personal position on the best way forward.

Ministers supporting Brexit, including House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, Transportation Secretary Chris Grayling and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, strongly protested the idea of ​​a lengthy extension. They intend to put pressure on May again in the next 24 hours to break this idea.

Leadsom even warned that she now thought her colleagues were trying to thwart Brexit: "It was a cabinet that would organize the Brexit, but now what I hear is not saying so," he said. she declared.

May also met with backbench colleagues to inform them of next steps, including former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who is widely regarded as the potential favorite of a race to the leadership if the prime minister were to withdraw.

A firm source said: "The current position is untenable; if they simply accept a long extension, the party will split up.

At their regular meeting in Westminster on Tuesday night, some members of the European Backbench Research Group (ERG) openly called Friday for the Prime Minister's resignation.

However, several backing MPs said they were rebadured about May's intention to go ahead with Brexit as soon as possible and that she would agree to an extension. longer if forced by Brussels.

EU chief negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier, hinted on Tuesday that Brussels would require a clear answer to the question of how the government intended to proceed as the counterpart to the granting of the award. a prolongation.

"The key questions will be: does an extension increase the chances of ratification of the withdrawal agreement? Will the United Kingdom ask for an extension because it wants a little more time to reformulate the political declaration? Barnier said. "If no, what would be the purpose and result of an extension? And how can we ensure that at the end of a possible extension, we do not return to the same situation as today?

Any extension should be approved by a vote of both Houses of Parliament next week as the date of March 29 is enshrined in the EU withdrawal law.

Ministers promised that Parliament would have the opportunity to debate how it could decide on another approach next Monday, but May's spokeswoman insisted that her priority should be to continue to try to convince MPs to benefit from his contract.

"The premier said that she thought the agreement she had reached with the EU was a good agreement and that it was the best deal available. . It continues to look for a way to ensure that Parliament succeeds in this agreement. that we can leave the EU as soon as possible, "said the prime minister's spokesman.

Negotiations with the Democrat-Unionist Party (DUP) have been going on since the weekend, in the hope that, if its leaders showed support for its approach, the main representatives of the Brexiters, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, could support him.

Philip Hammond discussed post-Brexit options for taxing goods crossing the Irish border. "The Chancellor is a crucial figure in all of this because customs duties and excise duties are within his competence," an informed source said.

"The problem under discussion is how to tax goods – where they could be taxed, far from the border or otherwise – and how that could be done."

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Nigel Dodds of DUP also met May's de facto MP David Lidington, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill.

Discussions focused on how North Irish politicians will maintain political control over support, the agreement to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland in case the UK leaves the EU without reaching a global agreement.