FILE PHOTO: Britain's Labour Party's Shadow Secretary of State for Departing the European Union Keir Starmer appears on BBC TV's The Andrew Marr Show in London, Britain March 24, 2019. Jeff Overs/BBC/Handout via REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) - Lawmakers should agree what outcome to Brexit talks they want before asking Brussels for a longer delay to avoid the “worst” outcome of leaving the European Union without a deal, Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said on Thursday.

If Prime Minister Theresa May fails to pass her Brexit agreement, Britain is due to leave on April 12 unless it can agree a new approach and ask for a longer delay.

Asked at a British Chambers of Commerce event when he thought Britain should leave the European Union, Starmer said: “The worst of all outcomes is a no-deal exit... We need sufficient time to find a consensus to agree a way forward.”

“Let’s find the purpose of the extension first. I don’t want to set a date, because if we just set a date, we just set another clock ticking,” he said.

“Once we know what it is we want an extension for, we can then negotiate, talk to the EU about how long that needs to be.”