United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May has written to European Council President Donald Tusk to request to delay the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union by three months.
The UK is currently due to leave on March 29, but the British parliament has twice rejected May’s divorce deal with the EU, prompting concerns that the UK could exit the bloc without a deal.
On Monday, Speaker of the House John Bercow made a surprise decision to not allow a third “meaningful vote” on May’s Brexit plan, forcing the prime minister to seek an extension to allow time to revamp the deal.
Addressing lawmakers on Wednesday, May said she does not want a long extension that would potentially involve the UK taking part in elections to the European Parliament in late May, as doing so would fail to honour the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum.
In her letter to Tusk, May said she would seek to delay the UK’s departure until June 30.
She wrote that she remained confident that British lawmakers would ratify the Brexit deal she negotiated with the bloc.