LONDON — With Britain racing toward a chaotic exit from the European Union within days, Prime Minister Theresa May veered away from the cliff-edge Tuesday, saying she would seek another Brexit delay and hold talks with the opposition to seek a compromise.
May made the announcement after the EU’s chief negotiator warned that a disruptive and costly Brexit was likely unless Britain broke the impasse that has paralyzed the government and Parliament.
After failing repeatedly to win Parliament’s backing for her Brexit blueprint, May said that the country needed “national unity to deliver the national interest.”
Following the defeat of the government’s plan and a range of lawmaker-written alternatives, May said Britain would need a further delay to its EU departure, currently scheduled for April 12. She offered to hold talks with opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in an attempt to find a compromise solution.
“This debate, this division, cannot drag on much longer,” May said in a televised statement from 10 Downing St. after an all-day Cabinet meeting.
European Council President Donald Tusk gave a cautious welcome to May’s change of course.
“Even if, after today, we don’t know what the end result will be, let us be patient,” he tweeted — a suggestion the EU would wait for Britain to present a clear plan.
Earlier, EU negotiator Michel Barnier offered a downbeat assessment of the situation.
“As things stand now, the no-deal option looks likely. I have to tell you the truth,” Barnier said in Brussels.
Barnier said “we can still hope to avoid it” if London produced a breakthrough before an April 10 EU summit.
The leaders of the EU’s 27 remaining countries have given the U.K. until April 12 to leave the bloc or to come up with a new plan, after British lawmakers thrice rejected an agreement struck between the bloc and May late last year.
The House of Commons has also failed to find a majority for any alternative plan in two days of voting on multiple options.
May’s statement came after a seven-hour meeting of her fractious Cabinet, which is split between supporters of a “soft Brexit” that keeps close economic ties with the EU, and Brexiteers who believe a no-deal exit is better than compromising.
May’s words seemed to indicate that she was veering away from the possibility of a no-deal Brexit — but also that she has not given up on her own unloved withdrawal agreement.
Her plan is to seek approval for the legally binding agreement — which sets out in detail the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU — after securing cross-party political support for a vision of future ties between the U.K. and the bloc.
If she and Corbyn fail to reach agreement, May said Parliament would get to vote on a range of options — and the government would be bound by the result. It is the first time she has committed to following the instruction of lawmakers.
