PM May to ask EU for short Brexit delay

Theresa May will not request a long delay to Brexit from European leaders, Downing Street says. No 10 added that the PM shared the public's "frustration" at Parliament's "failure to take a decision".

Under current law, the UK will leave the EU - with or without a deal - in nine days.

May is meeting EU leaders on Thursday in Brussels, where she is expected to request an extension to Article 50 -- the legal process for Britain leaving the bloc -- after parliament rejected her deal twice by substantial margins.

If an extension is agreed, the UK will avoid crashing out of the EU this month without a deal.

The PM is due to send a letter requesting a delay to Brexit later, ahead of an EU summit on Thursday at which she will discuss the matter with fellow leaders.

Any delay will have to be agreed by all 27 EU member states and EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said the EU will not grant it without a "concrete plan" from the UK about what they would do with it.

Explaining that May "won't be asking for a long extension" when she writes to the EU, Number 10 said: "There is a case for giving Parliament a bit more time to agree a way forward, but the people of this country have been waiting nearly three years now.

"They are fed up with Parliament's failure to take a decision and the PM shares their frustration."

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker suggested the EU might postpone any decision on extending the Brexit process until it had "more clarity" from the UK.

He again ruled out any further negotiation on the current deal, saying the EU had "already moved intensively towards Britain" and "there isn't any more".

Talks over a delay come after MPs rejected the withdrawal deal May has negotiated with the EU for a second time last week by 149 votes.

They also voted in favour of ruling out leaving the EU without a deal, and in favour of extending the Brexit process - although more than 180 Tory MPs opposed the latter.

The prime minister had hoped to have a third attempt at getting MPs to back her deal before this week's EU summit.

But Speaker John Bercow effectively torpedoed that when he announced a third "meaningful vote" could not happen in the coming days if it was "substantially the same" motion.