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Brexit: Theresa May Formally Asks For Delay

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Prime Minister Theresa May
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British Prime Minister Theresa May says she has written to the EU President Donald Tusk with a plan for delaying Brexit beyond March 29.

Naija News understands that after promising on scores of occasions that Brexit would take place on March 29, May finally bowed to the inevitable and asked the EU to extend the divorce process.

May told the House of Commons said she had written to European Council President Donald Tusk, adding that she was “not prepared to delay Brexit any further” than June 30.

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Just last week the Prime Minister warned the House of Commons that a longer extension would be needed if lawmakers failed to vote in favour of her Brexit deal. Downing Street hoped that the prospect of a long delay would force rebel lawmakers into line.

But Brexiteer members of her Cabinet were reportedly furious at the suggestion May could ask the EU for a delay of up to two years.

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There was a mutinous mood at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, according to multiple reports. By Thursday Morning, May had backed down. “The PM won’t be asking for a long extension,” a Downing Street source told CNN.

“There is a case for giving Parliament a bit more time to agree on a way forward, but the people of this country have been waiting nearly three years now. “They are fed up with parliament’s failure to take a decision and the PM shares their frustration.

“The Prime Minister told the House of Commons later that she intends to bring her twice-rejected deal back for the third vote. “If that vote is passed, the extension will give the House time to consider the Withdrawal Agreement bill. If not, the House will have to decide how to proceed,” May told parliament.

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Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the UK’s main opposition party, said May has led the country into a “full-scale national crisis.

“Incompetence, failure and intransigence from the Prime Minister have brought us to this point,” he told MPs.

He added that he would be holding his own meetings with UK lawmakers on Wednesday and leaders in Brussels on Thursday in order to “break the deadlock.

“The process could further be complicated with an effort by opposition lawmakers to force May to request a longer extension to Brexit. It’s up to the Speaker, John Bercow, to decide whether to allow the proposal to be debated.