LONDON (Reuters) - British junior Brexit minister Kwasi Kwarteng said on Monday he believed there was still a chance parliament would approve Prime Minister Theresa May’s European Union exit deal this week.

May has said that if parliament approves her Brexit deal before March 20, she will request a 3-month delay to Britain’s March 29 exit date, but if it does not then she will likely have to seek a longer delay.

Earlier on Monday, the speaker of parliament ruled that May could not put her divorce deal to a new vote unless it was re-submitted in fundamentally different form.

“I still think there is a chance that the deal can come back and go through the house,” Kwarteng told parliament, when asked what reason May would give in any request for a long delay.