Theresa May seeks further Brexit delay and makes offer to Jeremy Corbyn
Theresa May says the debate and division caused by Brexit "cannot drag on", as she makes her pitch to end the "logjam".
Wednesday 3 April 2019 14:22, UK
Theresa May has said she will be seeking a further delay to Brexit, as she offered to sit down with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in a bid to break the impasse.
Speaking in Downing Street following a marathon seven-hour meeting of her cabinet, the prime minister said the debate and division caused by Britain's EU exit "cannot drag on much longer".
"Today I'm taking action to break the logjam," Mrs May said.
"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."
But the PM said any new proposal would have to accept her withdrawal agreement - which sets out the terms of Britain's EU exit - and focus on amendments to the political declaration setting out the shape of the future relationship with the bloc.
Mrs May said she hoped to agree a deal with Mr Corbyn that could be put to parliament for a vote before an EU summit next week.
Mr Corbyn responded by saying he would be "very happy" to hold talks with the PM and would not set any "limits" ahead of the meeting.
He said: "We recognise that she has made a move, I recognise my responsibility to represent the people that supported Labour in the last election and the people who didn't support Labour but nevertheless want certainty and security for their own future and that's the basis on which we will meet her and we will have those discussions."
Mrs May has committed to leaving the EU's single market and customs union, but Mr Corbyn by contrast has said Labour would seek to establish a customs union with the bloc and retain single market access.
So there will need to be compromise, something Downing Street recognises. A Number 10 source said: "Unless there is compromise on both sides, it is unlikely we can find a way forward."
If the pair cannot do this, Mrs May continued in her statement, a number of alternatives would be put to the Commons for MPs to have their say, with the government abiding by what parliament decides.
"The ideal outcome of this process would be to agree an approach on a future relationship that delivers on the result of the referendum, that both the leader of the opposition and I could put to the house for approval and which I could then take to next week's European Council," she said.
"However, if we cannot agree on the single unified approach, then we would instead agree a number of options for the future relationship that we could put to the House in a series of votes to determine which course to pursue.
"Crucially, the government stands ready to abide by the decision of the House. But to make this process work, the opposition would need to agree to this too."
Mrs May said the delay to Brexit through extending Article 50 would - if her strategy pays off - allow the UK to leave the EU "in a timely and orderly way" and should be "as short as possible".
At the moment, Britain is due to leave the EU on 12 April without a deal in place. The original exit date of 29 March was pushed back as Mrs May struggled to get her deal through the Commons.
Insisting that any resolution should take the UK out of the EU by 22 May in order to avoid participation in European Parliament elections, she said: "This is a decisive moment in the story of these islands and it will require national unity to deliver the national interest."
The offer to Mr Corbyn represents a major change in strategy from Mrs May, who has thus far tried to get her Brexit deal through parliament with Tory and DUP votes.
But a hat-trick of defeats - and MPs taking control of Commons business to give their verdict on a range of Brexit alternatives - has prompted a rethink from Downing Street.
However, the change in approach is fraught with danger for Mrs May.
The prospect of agreeing a deal with Labour raises the prospect of the prime minister compromising on her Brexit red lines and adopting a "softer" Brexit that involves close links with the EU.
The shift has already caused anger among Brexiteer MPs, with a source in the European Research Group (ERG) of eurosceptic MPs telling Sky News: "It's really kicking off.
"This cannot be allowed, the cabinet have to move against May. The '22 chairman has to go to her and tell her she has to go."
Former foreign secretary and Vote Leave campaigner Boris Johnson, who resigned from Mrs May's government over Brexit, said voters would be feeling "very short-changed" and "bitterly disappointed".
He said it was "very disappointing that the Brexit process has now been entrusted to Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party" and Brexit was "becoming soft to the point of disintegration".
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith told Sky's deputy political editor Beth Rigby: "This is an utter disaster... We are just about to legitimise Corbyn. It is appalling."
ERG chair Jacob Rees-Mogg described the offer to Mr Corbyn as "deeply unsatisfactory" and accused the PM of planning to collaborate with "a known Marxist".
Ministers were said to be split 14-10 against asking for a long extension to Brexit, with ministers voting 17-4 in favour of the limited delay which is being sought by Mrs May.
Gavin Williamson, Penny Mordaunt, Chris Grayling and Liz Truss opposed the extension.
Westminster will be watching for potential resignations from the ranks of Brexit-backing members of Mrs May's top team.
The DUP, which in 2017 signed a confidence and supply deal with Mrs May to back her government in key votes, was withering in its assessment of this latest Brexit twist.
The party, which has voted against the PM's deal three times because of its opposition to the Irish border backstop, accused Mrs May of "sub-contracting out the future of Brexit to Jeremy Corbyn".
The reaction from the EU, so far, has been comparatively muted.
European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted: "Even if, after today, we don't know what the end result will be, let us be patient."
The European Parliament's Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt posted a tweet which read: "Good that PM @theresa_may is looking for a cross-party compromise. Better late than never. #brexit"
EU negotiator Michel Barnier warned earlier, before the PM's statement, that a no-deal departure on 12 April was becoming "day after day more likely".
Theresa May's statement in full:
"I have just come from chairing seven hours of cabinet meetings focused on finding a route out of the current impasse - one that will deliver the Brexit the British people voted for, and allow us to move on and begin bringing our divided country back together.
"I know there are some who are so fed up with delay and endless arguments that they would like to leave with no deal next week.
"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. It is putting MPs and everyone else under immense pressure - and it is doing damage to our politics.
"Despite the best efforts of MPs, the process that the House of Commons has tried to lead has not come up with an answer.
"So today I am taking action to break the logjam: I am offering to sit down with the leader of the opposition and to try to agree a plan - that we would both stick to - to ensure that we leave the European Union and that 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 that it cannot and will not be reopened.
"What we need to focus on is our future relationship with the EU.
"The ideal outcome of this process would be to agree an approach on a future relationship that delivers on the result of the referendum, that both the leader of the opposition and I could put to the house for approval, and which I could then take to next week's European Council.
"However, if we cannot agree on a single unified approach, then we would instead agree a number of options for the future relationship that we could put to the House in a series of votes to determine which course to pursue.
"Crucially, the government stands ready to abide by the decision of the House. But to make this process work, the opposition would need to agree to this too.
"The government would then bring forward the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. We would want to agree a timetable for this bill to ensure it is passed before 22 May so that the United Kingdom need not take part in European parliamentary elections.
"This is a difficult time for everyone. Passions are running high on all sides of the argument. But we can and must find the compromises that will deliver what the British people voted for.
"This is a decisive moment in the story of these islands. And it requires national unity to deliver the national interest."