Theresa May’s Brexit statement

As Theresa May resets her Brexit strategy, we’re pressing pause on our live coverage.

Wednesday will be another crucial day. Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper could still press ahead with her plan to take no-deal off the table, and we’ll find out when Jeremy Corbyn will be meeting Theresa May to discuss Brexit.

Expect plenty of fallout in the Conservative Party too, as furious hardliners respond to May’s offer to Corbyn.

As for Labour, we’ll see what the party presses for in its cross-party negotiations. Could Wednesday be the day Britain moves towards a second referendum?

We’ll be back to make sense of it all. You can follow the developments here.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he won’t be setting any preconditions ahead of his meetings with Theresa May, but that his guiding principle would be to “avoid the dangers of crashing out” of the EU without a deal.

He added that Labour would “hold in reserve” the option of calling a no confidence motion in May’s government, which could trigger a general election if it were successful. He could take that move if the government “proves it is incapable of commanding a majority in the House of Commons,” he told Sky News.

Corbyn also said the question of whether the UK holds European elections isn’t as significant as stopping the UK from crashing out without a deal.

Danish prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen echoed EU Council President Donald Tusk’s call for patience as a cross-party plan is explored – but he sounded a note of skepticism at the prospect of success.

Theresa May’s offer to bring Jeremy Corbyn into Brexit talks hasn’t gone down well with the Brexit hardliners in her own party.

Conservative Member of Parliament Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the European Research Group, a pro-Brexit bloc, said May had made the wrong move.

“This approach to government is an unsuccessful one and it also lacks democratic legitimacy,” Mogg said in response to May’s speech, according to the Press Association. “People did not vote for a Corbyn-May coalition government – they voted for a Conservative government, which became a confidence and supply with the DUP,” he said, referring to the small Northern Irish party that notionally props up May’s administration.

He added:

Rees-Mogg said he was resolutely opposed to May’s offer of talks with the opposition. “I think getting the support of a known Marxist is not likely to instill confidence in Conservatives,” he added. (Jeremy Corbyn’s politics sit to the far left of the Labour Party.)

Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, meanwhile, expressed his anger with the strategy on Twitter. “It is very disappointing that the cabinet has decided to entrust the final handling of Brexit to Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party,” he wrote.

“We now face the ridiculous possibility of being forced to contest the European elections more than three years after leaving the EU and having to agree to exit terms that in no way resemble what the people were promised when they voted to leave,” he added.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says he recognizes his “responsibility” to meet with Theresa May, after she offered to include him in Brexit talks.

Here’s what he said, according to the Press Association:

EU Council President Donald Tusk appeared open-minded to Theresa May’s new plan – but EU diplomats appear to be less patient.

“It’s more of the same, it always continues,” one diplomat told CNN, bemoaning May’s plan to a second short extension to the Brexit process.

“I think that the 27 leaders are very pragmatic and they don’t believe in dogma. They want to find a solution – especially Germany and France. They are interested in helping Theresa May.”

The diplomat noted that the UK must make a choice about whether it is to take part in European parliamentary elections by April 12.

In her statement, May tried to swerve that obstacle. The Prime Minister said she’ll ask for another extension that will ensure Britain has left the EU by May 22, after negotiations with the opposition Labour party and new votes in Parliament.

Diplomats seemed skeptical that the timescale would work. “She comes to Brussels and says ‘I want an extension to 22nd May and I will not hold European Parliament elections’ – I don’t think that will work,” the diplomat said.

“It’s more of the same, it always continues,” the diplomat added “The EU27 has already been very patient, the patience is not limitless … I’m wondering what would be different on the 22nd that is different on the 12th of April.”

Another diplomat echoed those sentiments:

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he is “very happy” to meet Theresa May, the Press Association reported, after the Prime Minister offered to find a cross-party path out of Britain’s Brexit crisis.There were no further details about where or when the meeting would take place.

Labour's shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, and leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Theresa May’s statement represented a significant shift in her Brexit approach, moving away from the prospect of a no-deal split and bringing opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn into the equation.

The plan will dismay the hardline Brexiteers in her own party, who for so long have opposed her Withdrawal Agreement – and may now, as a result, lose the hard Brexit they desire.

All eyes now shift to Corbyn, the Labour leader. There’s been no response from Labour yet, but his next move could shape the future of Brexit. The Prime Minister said she would attempt to forge an agreement with Corbyn that would then be put to the House of Commons.

So what will Corbyn demand in his talks with May?

A customs union: Labour party policy favors a customs union with the EU and “close alignment” to the single market. A motion to add a customs union to May’s Brexit deal came the closest to achieving a majority in the Commons during the first two rounds of indicative votes this week. If Labour compromised its demand for single market alignment, it could get her deal over the line.

Common Market 2.0: This so-called “Norway Plus” model was also backed by Labour in Monday’s indicative votes, and comes closest to Labour’s own alternative Brexit plan. But it calls for the UK to stay in the Single Market, which would likely be unpalatable to May.

A second referendum: Corbyn took a long time to come around to the prospect of a second vote, but ultimately supported a plan from one of his backbenchers for a confirmatory vote on any deal May gets through Parliament. Could May accept a combination of a customs union plus a confirmatory referendum? It would be a huge move for her.

Theresa May has finally made a decision. And it’s not one her hard-Brexit allies will like.

The Prime Minister has recognized what many have been saying for weeks – that there’s no majority for her deal in Parliament.

In offering talks with the opposition Labour Party – and, crucially, offering to accept the result of any vote in Parliament – May has also recognized that she will never be able to persuade her supposed allies in the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, nor a hard core of Brexiteers in her own Conservative Party.

May has picked a side, and it’s the side of a “soft” Brexit – one that envisages a closer relationship with the EU than she previously could countenance.

For some, that has always felt inevitable. With no majority in the House of Commons and her own party so bitterly divided, it was always a possibility that Theresa May was going to have to reach across the political divide.

It should never be forgotten that this is a Prime Minister who supported Remain in the 2016 referendum. Brexiteers long ago suspected that her commitment to Brexit was more of an act. Even as recently and last week, some close to the PM were trying to brief that she privately favored no deal. But no one who has followed May properly for the last three years bought it.

The political will in the UK is to avoid a no-deal Brexit. The same is true, largely, across Europe.

So this short extension, and a compromise in favor of what will likely be a softer Brexit, bows to the political winds.

But the war it might start in the Conservative Party might be terminal. A soft Brexit *and* an offer to work with the opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, a man many Conservatives believe to be a risk to national security? Theresa May might be on her way out. But what a mess she could leave behind her.

Here’s the full text of Theresa May’s statement.

EU Council President Donald Tusk has responded to May’s speech.

He appears to be open to the strategy May has laid out, urging patience as Britain moves towards a Brexit breakthrough.

In her statement from Downing Street, Theresa May spelled out the process she will take over the coming days. Here’s what she said:

Britain needs another Brexit extension. May said she understood those who argued for a no-deal Brexit on April 12, but she insisted that “leaving with deal is the best solution.” She plans to ask the EU for a short extension that would not require participating in the European parliamentary elections on May 23. It sounds like she will request a delay to May 22 – a date already suggested by the EU.

She will meet with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to find a cross-party solution. May hopes the two leaders will agree to a Brexit plan “we would both stick to to ensure we leave the EU and we do so with a deal.” That plan would be put to the EU Council on April 10, which would decide on the UK request for a Brexit delay.

If they can’t agree, Parliament will get more votes. If May and Corbyn can’t find a cross-party plan, Parliament will get to vote on a number of alternatives. May promised to abide by the result. “Crucially, the Government stands ready to abide by the decision of the House but to make this process work the Opposition would need to agree to this too,” she said.

May concluded by saying:

The British Prime Minister said she hopes to agree a way forward with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn before an emergency EU summit on April 10, that will allow the UK to leave the bloc with a deal.

May suggested that if she and Corbyn could not agree a deal, the government would give Parliament a series of votes on Brexit options.

In a significant development, she promised to take forward whatever Parliament decided.

May says the continued Brexit logjam means the UK will need another extension of the Article 50 process if Parliament won’t pass her Withdrawal Agreement.

She offers to meet with Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, to find a way out of the Brexit impasse.

She says the deadlock is putting huge pressure on lawmakers and “can’t drag on for much longer.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May is making a televised statement, after a grueling cabinet meeting that lasted throughout the day.

Follow live updates here.

A podium is set up inside Downing Street, where Theresa May is expected to make a televised statement shortly.

The speech follows a marathon cabinet meeting, which has been running since 9:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. ET).

Lawmakers are preparing to hold another round of indicative votes on Monday April 8, after first fast-tracking a vote on a bill to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

The cabal of MPs behind the indicative votes, including Labour’s Yvette Cooper and Conservative MP Oliver Letwin, have published business motion that will give the Commons control of the order paper on both days.

Cooper’s plan – which calls for a Commons vote to force Theresa May to request a long Article 50 extension, rather than opt for no-deal, if she can’t pass her Withdrawal Agreement – will be debated and legislated for on Wednesday, according to the motion.

Then, on Monday, another set of indicative votes will be put to the Commons in an eleventh-hour push for a majority on something.

The Independent Group of MPs confirmed the timetable on Twitter, and suggested that efforts are underway to combine some of the options that narrowly failed to get a majority on Monday evening.

Varadkar and Macron in Paris on Tuesday.

Theresa May can still avoid a no-deal Brexit by presenting the EU with a credible alternative plan, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told reporters at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Tuesday afternoon.

“There is still time for the Prime Minister to come to the European Council with proposals that are credible and have a clear pathway to success,” Varadkar said.

He added the Withdrawal Agreement could not be reopened, but said that “if the UK changed its red lines, we could make changes to the declaration on the future relationship.” 

The Taoiseach also thanked President Macron for what he called “France’s continuing solidarity with Ireland,” after Macron said France would not let Ireland down in its approach to Brexit. 

Varadkar will welcome German chancellor Angela Merkel to Dublin on Thursday, before the remaining 27 EU leaders take part in an emergency summit on April 10 to discuss any British request for a Brexit extension.

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned yet again that Britain will not automatically be granted another extension to Brexit, insisting that the EU cannot be “held hostage” to the UK’s political crisis.

But he did hint that a significant change of approach – such as Britain holding a general election or a second referendum – would be enough to buy the UK more time.

“The third rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement by the Commons, as well as the rejections of any alternative, pave the way for a no-deal exit,” Macron told reporters.

Macron is meeting the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in Paris, where the two leaders will discuss Brexit.

The French President said France would stand by Ireland, adding that the 27 remaining EU leaders are united in their position.

“I’m fully aware of the tremendous difficulties (a no-deal) situation would bring about for Ireland,” Macron said.

But he said a second Brexit extension should not be taken for granted, and that the EU should not be a permanent “hostage” to the UK’s crisis.

Macron said the EU would be “open” to another Brexit plan, such as a customs union, as well as a general election and a second referendum, as potential ways forward that could help Britain secure another delay – but insisted that it was “up to London” to put any such plans forward.

The French President took a tough stance against granting Britain a long extension at last month’s EU summit, and seemed willing to countenance allowing the UK to crash out without a deal.

He’s likely to take a similar hard-line position again, should Britain request an extension on April 10.

The new Brexit deadline is just 10 days away. Yet for some reason, a number of people in London think the only way to break the deadlock is to go back to the public, not in a second referendum, but a general election.

Aside from the fact that any kind of public vote would require extending Brexit beyond April 12 and May 22 – meaning that the UK would have to remain in the EU for the time being and stand in EU elections – it could also create an even bigger mess.

Rob Ford, professor in politics at the University of Manchester and author of the upcoming book Brexitland, thinks the political situation is so volatile that a general election would be inconclusive on the single question of Brexit.

“A referendum would be polarizing but at least (this time, as last time the question was so vague) all sides would agree on what the vote meant,” Ford explained.

By contrast, a general election – which uses a more complicated polling system than a referendum – would be “far messier,” he said.

Right now, both main parties are on an election footing – especially the opposition Labour party.

Curious, then, that while both sides claim to want clarity on Brexit, they are also coy when it comes to full-throated endorsement of a second referendum.