EU set to offer Theresa May one-year ‘flexible’ delay to Brexit

Request for short extension to be rebuffed in favour of 'flextension' until 30 March 2020

Theresa May is set to be offered a year-long “flexible” delay to Brexit at next week’s emergency summit in Brussels, EU officials have said.

A plan drawn up by Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, would let Britain stay in the bloc until 31 March 2020 – more than a year after the original planned exit date.

Brussels is framing the proposal as a “flextension” – to stress that the UK could leave before the final date if MPs agreed to implement the negotiated Brexit deal before then.

Ahead of next week’s summit the prime minister has formally requested a short extension to 30 June this year – the same date she asked for last month and had rejected.

The 27 other EU presidents and prime ministers will make the final formal decision about the UK’s future at the meeting on Wednesday.

Ms May will travel to Brussels on 10 April for the European Council summit, where EU leaders will discuss the request. If none is granted the UK is set to leave on 12 April.

The plan is likely to enrage Tory Brexiteers who want to leave without a deal. Jacob Rees-Mogg said on Friday morning: “If a long extension leaves us stuck in the EU, we should be as difficult as possible. We could veto any increase in the budget, obstruct the putative EU army and block Mr Macron’s integrationist schemes.”

Ms May wrote to Mr Tusk on Friday morning to seek a much shorter extension than that being drawn up in Brussels.

The prime minister requested a delay only until 30 June, and asked for the UK to have the right to leave the EU even earlier if parliament approves a withdrawal agreement.

Writing to Mr Tusk to seek a further extension, she said: “The United Kingdom proposes that this period should end on 30 June 2019. If the parties are able to ratify before this date, the government proposes that the period should be terminated early.

“The government will want to agree a timetable for ratification that allows the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union before 23 May 2019 and therefore cancel the European parliament elections, but will continue to make responsible preparations to hold the elections.”

The government continued to hold talks with Labour on Friday in a bid to find a way to break the deadlock in parliament. Ministers and shadow ministers met for four and a half hours on Thursday for negotiations that No 10 later described as “detailed and productive technical talks”.

In her letter to Mr Tusk, Ms May said that, “if the talks do not lead to a single unified approach soon”, the government will “instead look to establish a consensus on a small number of clear options on the future [EU-UK] relationship” that would be put to the House of Commons “in a series of votes to determine which course to pursue”.

The prime minister’s cabinet is divided over the length of any possible delay, too: Brexiteer cabinet ministers including Gavin Williamson, Andrea Leadsom, Chris Grayling and Michael Gove met twice on Thursday to discuss their strategy for persuading Ms May not to seek a long extension. Meanwhile Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, warned that the delay would have to be more than “just a few weeks or months”.

Ms May has insisted she does not want the UK to have to take part in European parliament elections on 22 May. However, EU officials are insistent that Britain would have to take part of it remained in the bloc by that point.

The “flextension” being drawn up by Mr Tusk would allow the UK to leave the EU before then if parliament passes a withdrawal agreement. He is said to have told officials in Brussels that the proposal would prevent the EU having to discuss further delays to Brexit every few weeks.

The text of Article 50 already allows departing member states to leave before the end of the negotiating period, however – suggesting the “flextension” name may be branding to help Ms May sell the delay back at home.

Some European leaders are sceptical about a long extension and are likely to demand to know how Ms May will use the additional time. Any delay would need to be approved by every EU member state.

Last week Ms May said she hoped that discussions with Labour would result in a cross-party proposal that could be put to parliament before she travels to Brussels next Wednesday.

If they cannot agree on a way forward, the two parties will compile a list of options to be voted on by MPs. Ms May said the government “stands ready to abide by the decision” the Commons makes.

But Mr Cox, the attorney general, appeared to suggest that a long extension was the most likely outcome.

He told the BBC: “The problem then would be that we would be in an extension. It’s likely to be a long one, by which I mean longer than just a few weeks or months.

“The prime minister would have little choice but to accept the extension that she’s offered.”