Stop Sleepwalking into a No-Deal Scenario, Dutch PM Tells Theresa May

Theresa May is facing growing calls to say she would delay Brexit rather than leave the EU if no deal is in place by the end of March.

A new plan from some Tory MPs suggests ministers postpone Brexit until 23 May “to conclude negotiations”.

It is being suggested as an alternative to cross-party proposals which would see MPs take control of the process.

Dutch PM Mark Rutte warned Mrs May the UK was “sleepwalking into a no-deal scenario” and needed to “wake up”.

The pair met at a summit in Egypt, as she presses EU leaders for more concessions to her deal.

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described a no-deal Brexit as a “lose-lose-lose scenario for everyone”, but he told reporters ahead of a meeting with Mrs May that he thought the outcome was unlikely.

Mrs May announced on Sunday that MPs will get a fresh vote on her deal by 12 March, vowing that leaving as planned 17 days later was “within our grasp”.

But many MPs had wanted another so-called “meaningful vote” sooner than that, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested Mrs May was “running down the clock” until a time when MPs were forced “to choose between her bad deal and a disastrous no deal”.

Mrs May’s announcement also provoked disappointment among business leaders, who are clamouring for certainty about what is to come.

Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he was “encouraging” the prime minister to announce a delay to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

But Education Secretary Damian Hinds said a delay would “just prolong these issues”.

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