Brexit news - live: EU leaders agree to extend Article 50 until end of October
Live updates from Westminster and Brussels
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Your support makes all the difference.European leaders agreed to grant another extension to Britain’s membership of the EU at an emergency summit on Wednesday night, offering the UK a delay to its departure date until Halloween – 31 October.
Theresa May travelled to Brussels where she pleaded with EU leaders to delay Brexit until 30 June, rather than see the UK crash out without deal on Friday.
Most EU leaders appeared ready to back Donald Tusk’s proposal of a longer delay, but a decision was held up by French President Emmanuel Macron, who insisted on “no long extension”.
Here’s how the day unfolded:
More from inside the European council meeting here as Theresa May makes her crucial pitch to EU leaders. She can be seen sitting alongside the council president, Donald Tusk.
Theresa May's pitch to the EU leaders is now over and the 27 leaders of the other member state will now discuss any extension to the Article 50 process they may decide to grant. The prime minister will now leave the room after being grilled for just over an hour.
It has emerged that Angela Merkel's iPad screen was showing a side-by-side image showing her and Theresa May wearing jackets of exactly the same colour as they took questions in their respective parliaments earlier in the day.
As the EU leaders discuss Britain's future - without Theresa May in the room - they will be tucking into a... warm scallop salad for their starter. Maybe the prime minister is considering herself lucky this evening.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster has just issued a statement as Theresa May awaits news from the EU 27.
She says she will be meeting with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Thursday, alongside Tory MPs and Brexiteers Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Patterson.
In her statement, she says:
“This is a useful opportunity to once again set out why we oppose the Withdrawal Agreement and urge the EU’s Chief Negotiator to acknowledge the concerns of those we represent in Northern Ireland by making the changes outlined by Parliament on 29 January.
"We want to see a sensible deal which works for every part of the United Kingdom and respects the referendum result. However, we cannot settle for a deal which would undermine the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom.
"The European Union has spoken much about protecting the peace process and the Belfast Agreement but has consistently ignored the views of unionists who do not want a new border erected between Northern Ireland the rest of the United Kingdom.
"Despite the Prime Minister being warned about the opposition to her Withdrawal Agreement, she has limped along and tried to force people into a cul-de-sac where they have no option but to support her deal.
"That is a weak approach and demeans the strength of this great nation. It is also foolish as it traps the UK and burdens future generations with a bad deal.
"Our great democratic principles have been damaged. It is outrageous that almost three years after people voted to leave the European Union, we are potentially facing another European election in the United Kingdom.
"The uncertainty we face is not the fault of the voters. The Prime Minister should recognise that the decision to leave the EU is not the problem but rather the ham-fisted manner in which the negotiations have taken place.”
Tory MP and Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith has said participating in the European elections would be an "utter disaster" for his party.
He told Channel 4 News: "I hate to say this but the reality is if we end up going and accepting a year-long, or even a nine-month extension, I think we're going to have egg all over our face.
"It's time for us to bite the bullet and say, look, we can't do this any longer, we have to make a change.
"The whole thing is an utter car crash and I think what has to be established now is I think the Cabinet has to have a moment with the prime minister and say this can't go on, I'm afraid, it really can't go on."
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