Theresa May has been told by a senior EU politician her request to delay Brexit until June 30 is “impossible”. Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, said the EU would only accept an Article 50 extension until May 23. The prime minister is meeting EU leaders at a summit in Brussels today to request a three-month delay, to give her time to break the deadlock in parliament and win support from MPs for her beleaguered exit deal. Speaking before the summit meeting, Verhofstadt said: “This is an impossible thing to have an extension that goes further than May 23 because that would create an enormous problem. Pro-EU Tory Sam Gyimah, who quit as a minister over May’s deal, described the PM’s remarks as “toxic”.

Source: Huffington Post March 21, 2019 16:41 UTC