EU leaders are unlikely to grant a short delay to the Brexit process unless British MPs approve the withdrawal agreement before the 27 leaders meet in Brussels next week, senior EU officials have told BuzzFeed News.



In a speech on Tuesday, Theresa May laid out plans to seek another short extension to Article 50 – the framework that sets out the two-year process for the UK’s departure from the EU initially set for March 29.

May will now enter into talks with the Labour party, suggesting for the first time that she could be willing to shift on her so-called red lines.

The aim of the sit-down with Jeremy Corbyn is to find a way out of the impasse the country finds itself in after the prime minister's Brexit deal was rejected by parliament on three occasions. Separately, MPs have also failed to agree any alternative solutions to break the deadlock.

When EU leaders met at a European Council summit meeting last month, the 27 heads of state and government agreed to extend Article 50 until May 22 on the condition that MPs approved the withdrawal agreement, the legally-binding terms of Britain's departure from the EU. If they don't approve it, the UK has until April 12 to put forward another plan or face crashing out without a deal.


EU and European government officials are adamant that if the deal doesn’t go through, and the UK asks for a longer extension before the April deadline, Britain will have to hold European Parliament elections in May. The cut-off date for the elections is April 11.

“It appears that some forgot why the 22 May extension was made conditional on the approval of the withdrawal agreement,” a senior EU official told BuzzFeed News. “Leaders were very determined to avoid the risk of a no-deal Brexit on the eve of the European Parliament elections,” the official added.

On Wednesday, the president of European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, told MEPs that 12 April was the "ultimate deadline" for the House of Commons to approve the deal – and no further short extension would be possible if MPs had not done so by that date.