The European Union will grant Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Brexit at an emergency summit today, but the EU leaders are likely to demand she accepts a longer extension with conditions.
In a sign of just how far the Brexit crisis has sapped British power, May dashed to Berlin and Paris on the eve of the summit to ask Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to allow her to put off the departure date to June 30 from April 12 – this Friday!
However, an extension until the end of the year or until March 2020 was shaping up to be the most likely option, EU diplomats said. Such an option would allow Britain to leave earlier if the Brexit deadlock in London could be broken.
While it was not immediately clear what Merkel and Macron, Europe’s two most powerful leaders, agreed with May, an advance draft of conclusions for today’s emergency EU summit said Britain would be granted another delay on certain conditions.
Britain’s Brexit-bound economy unexpectedly grew in February, helped by manufacturers rushing to meet orders from clients who are stockpiling goods ahead of the country’s break from the European Union, official data showed.
While still sluggish, the economy expanded by 0.2 percent from January, the Office for National Statistics.
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