The EU has handed Theresa May two weeks’ grace to devise an alternative Brexit plan if her deal falls next week after the prime minister failed to convince the bloc that she was capable of avoiding a no-deal Brexit.
After a marathon late-night session of talks, the EU’s leaders ripped up May’s proposals and a new Brexit timeline was pushed on the prime minister to avoid the cliff-edge deadline of 29 March – next Friday.
Under the deal agreed by May, Britain will now stay a member state until 12 April if the withdrawal agreement is rejected by MPs at the third time of asking.
The government will be able to seek a longer extension during that period if it can both “indicate a way forward” and agree to hold European elections.
In the unlikely event that May does win the support of the Commons when the Brexit deal goes to MPs again on Tuesday, the UK will stay a member state until 22 May to allow necessary withdrawal legislation to be passed.
“The 12 April is the new 29 March,” an EU official said.
Donald Tusk, the European council president, told reporters in a late-night press conference that he had several meetings through the evening to secure May’s agreement.
He said: “What this means in practice is that, until that date, all options will remain open, and the cliff-edge date will be delayed. The UK government will still have a choice of a deal, no-deal, a long extension or revoking article 50.”
Asked how long an extension could be on offer, the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said: “Until the very end.”
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, told reporters as he left the summit that the EU had acted to protect its interests in response to a “vacuum” in Westminster.
“The EU in a very clear manner has today responded to a British political crisis,” he said. “The British politicians are incapable to put in place what their people have demanded. Their people voted for Brexit.”
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, described the last-minute deal as “satisfactory for both sides” and one that would safeguard the EU’s institutions in the run-up to European elections. “As far as Spain’s concerned, it’s a good deal,” he said.
“We’re at a critical moment in the construction of Europe,” he said. “History will judge what happens over the coming weeks. Spanish citizens in the UK and Britons in Spain need to know that the government is prepared for a disorderly exit. The EU and the Spanish government have attached amendments to the agreement. But it doesn’t depend on us any more – it depends on the British government.”
Earlier on Thursday, May had made an address to leaders described as “90 minutes of nothing”, by sources, during which she failed to persuade the bloc that she had a plan to avoid a no-deal Brexit.
May had been asking for an extension to article 50 until 30 June to make time for vital legislation to pass should she manage to get her deal through the Commons next week.
But her appeal “dismally” failed to offer any answers as to what she would do if the deal was blocked by MPs again, sources said, provoking EU leaders into taking matters into their own hands and in effect taking control of her future.
“She didn’t even give clarity if she is organising a vote,” said one aide to a leader. “Asked three times what she would do if she lost the vote, she couldn’t say. It was awful. Dreadful. Evasive even by her standards.”
When leaders asked May what she was going to do if her deal was voted down, an official added that the prime minister replied that she was following her plan A of getting it through. It was then that the EU decided that “she didn’t have a plan so they needed to come up with one for her”, the source added.
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