Brexit news: Theresa May gives press conference amid anger over delays - despite EU backing Article 50 extension
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has faced questions over a potential delay to Brexit amid reports Downing Street is considering the option of a short extension to Article 50.
During a brief press conference at the close of the EU-Arab summit in Egypt, the prime minister, however, continued to insist that leaving the bloc on the 29 March was "within our grasp".
Her remarks came as a series of EU leaders raised the prospect of extending the negotiations, as the European Council president, Donald Tusk, added it would be a "ration solution" - given the lack of a parliamentary majority for Ms May's Brexit deal.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who had talks with Mrs May in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday, said the UK needed to "wake up".
Mr Rutte told the BBC: "The Netherlands is one of your best friends. What you guys are doing - leaving EU in this time of insecurity in the world, instability in EU - is the wrong decision.
"It's four weeks until the end date and still the UK has not agreed a position. So, now we are sleepwalking into a no-deal scenario. It's unacceptable and your best friends have to warn you.
Challenged over whether MPs would be able to vote on any additional assurances she secures from Brussels before they have been formally signed off by the EU27, Mrs May told reporters: "It is possible to do it either way."
Rejecting calls for a delay, the Prime Minister added: "An extension to Article 50, a delay in this process, doesn't deliver a decision in Parliament, it doesn't deliver a deal. All it does is precisely what the word 'delay' says.
"Any extension of Article 50 isn't addressing the issues.
The European parliament’s Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt also branded her decision to postpone the Commons ballot “one of the most reckless” he had ever seen, accusing Ms May of “kicking the can down the road”.
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Denmark's prime minister will not stand in the way of a possible postponement of the deadline for Brexit if that helped avoid a no-deal scenario, according to Reuters.
"I believe everyone will be flexible, no one wants the UK to leave the EU in a disorderly way," Lars Lokke Rasmussen told Danish broadcaster TV2 on Monday.
Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, will travel to Brussels again tomorrow for further talks with EU officials over the contentious issue of the backstop - the bloc's insurance policy to avoid a hard border in Ireland post-Brexit.
Theresa May is expected to give a press conference in around five minutes at the close of the EU-Arab summit in Egypt - expect questions from reporters travelling with on the turmoil in the Brexit negotiations.
Donald Tusk - the EU council president - has said an extension to Article 50 would be a "rational solution" as there was no majority in the House of Commons to approve Theresa May's Brexit deal.
"I believe that in the situation we are in, an extension would be a rational decision but prime minister May still believes she will be able to avoid this scenario," Tusk told a news conference in Egypt a day after seeing the British leader.
Theresa May is now speaking - she says she has had constructive conversations will allies in the EU-Arab summit in Egypt.
She said she also held "good" meetings with fellow EU leaders over Brexit, and that the UK team will return to Brussels tomorrow for further negotiations.
Asked why she was resisting a delay to Brexit beyond March 29, Mrs May said: "An extension to Article 50, a delay in this process, doesn't deliver a decision in Parliament, it doesn't deliver a deal. All it does is precisely what the word 'delay' says.
"Any extension of Article 50 isn't addressing the issues.
"We have it within our grasp. I've had a real sense from the meetings I've had here and the conversations I've had in recent days that we can achieve that deal.
"It's within our grasp to leave with a deal on March 29 and that's where all of my energies are going to be focused."
The PM says she also working to deliver what Parliament asked for (changes to the backstop). "There is an opportunity to leave on 29 March," she says.
Asked about the votes on Wednesday and whether ministers will have to resign if they vote against the government, the PM says that no motion, or amendments, have been tabled yet. This - of course - is a procedural explanation which avoids answering the actual question.
She also suggested it could be possible for MPs to vote on a withdrawal deal before it had been formally approved by the EU.
Asked whether MPs could vote on a deal first or whether Brussels would have to approve the agreement first, the PM replied: "It is possible to do it either way."
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