Theresa May to seek short Brexit delay after day-long Cabinet meeting

Theresa May said that the UK needs an extension to Brexit talks which is “as short as possible” in order to leave the EU with a deal.

Mrs May added she is offering to sit down with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to try to agree a plan for a deal.

Her short statement came on a day when a cross-party group of senior MPs launched a bid to force the Prime Minister to stop no-deal Brexit by tabling a bill requiring her to extend the negotiation process beyond April 12.

Number 10 made clear on Tuesday that exit without agreement in 10 days time remains the legal default unless MPs approve a deal. And EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said a no-deal departure was becoming “day after day more likely”.

Speaking in 10 Downing Street following a seven-hour Cabinet, Mrs May said: “I have always been clear that we could make a success of no-deal in the long term but leaving with a deal is the best solution.

“So we will need a further extension of Article 50 – one that is as short as possible and which ends when we pass a deal.

“And we need to be clear what such an extension is for: to ensure we leave in a timely and orderly way.

“This debate, this division, cannot drag on much longer.”

Mrs May said she would try to strike a compromise deal with Mr Corbyn but said it would have to include her current deal.

“Today I’m taking action to break the logjam.

“I’m offering to sit down with the leader of the opposition and try to agree a plan that we would both stick to to ensure we leave the EU and we do so with a deal.

“Any plan would have to agree the current Withdrawal Agreement – it has already been negotiated with the 27 other members and the EU has repeatedly said it cannot and will not be re-opened.”