Doubling down on her warning that Britain could leave without an accord if parliament votes against her, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday (January 9) she was pressing talks with EU leaders on securing assurances to ease concerns over her Brexit deal.
She also said her government was looking at ways to hand parliament more power over Britain’s talks with the EU on the future relationship, including on extending a transitional period rather than triggering the so-called Northern Irish backstop to prevent a return to a hard border with Ireland.
When asked by a lawmaker to rule out any delay to Brexit, she replied that Britain will leave the European Union on March 29.
On Tuesday the Telegraph newspaper cited three unidentified EU sources as saying British officials had been “putting out feelers” and “testing the waters” on an extension of Article 50, which sets out the conditions for leaving the EU.