UK asks for Brexit extension until June 30
Prime Minister Theresa May has said she has requested an extension to Article 50 -- the clause of the EU treaty under which Britain is leaving -- until June 30.
- World
- Compiled from news agencies
- Published Date: 04:02 | 20 March 2019
- Modified Date: 04:03 | 20 March 2019
Britain has asked European Union leaders to delay Brexit until June 30, Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament on Wednesday, on eve of an EU summit in Brussels.
May said she had written to EU President Donald Tusk "informing him that the U.K. seeks an extension to the Article 50 period to June 30," she said.
May told parliament she does not want a longer extension that would potentially involve Britain taking part in elections to the European Parliament in late May, as doing so would fail to honor the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum.
In her letter to Tusk, May said she remains confident that British lawmakers will ratify the Brexit deal she has agreed upon with the EU, after they twice rejected it.
"But this clearly will not be completed before March 29," she added, referring to the scheduled date of Brexit.
An EU official told Reuters that Tusk received May's letter.