Pressure mounts on Theresa May to delay Brexit deadline

February 25, 2019 21:12

British Prime Minister Theresa May has come under increasing pressure to delay the March 29 deadline for Britain's exit from the European Union as the prospect of a withdrawal agreement being passed by the UK Parliament continues to hang in the balance.

From an Arab-EU summit in Egypt on Monday, prime minister May insisted the UK was on course to acquire the legally binding assurances that the House of Commons needs in relation to the controversial Irish backstop clause to pass such a deal.

However, she sought more time to put it to a so-called "meaningful vote" in Parliament, which will now take place on March 12 instead of this week as previously announced.

"There is still more work to do, and my team will be in Brussels tomorrow (Tuesday) working on the legally binding assurances that the UK Parliament needs in relation to the backstop," she said in a statement from the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

"But what I have sensed in all of my conversations with my fellow leaders, both here in Sharm el-Sheikh and in recent days, there is a real determination to find a way through which allows the UK to leave the EU in a smooth and orderly way with a deal," she said.

But with another delay of the vote to next week, just 17 days before the March 29 deadline, MPs from within her own Conservative Party are beginning to speak out in favour of postponing the timeline at least by a few months.

-- PTI

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