Deadline for UK and EU to agree Brexit deal 'pushed back by four weeks'
2 min read
The deadline for Britain and the European Union to agree on a Brexit deal has reportedly been pushed back by four weeks – amid fears Tory rebels could bring down Theresa May’s Chequers plan.
Negotiators agreed to a new “hard deadline” of mid-November to sign off the deal, Whitehall sources told the Telegraph.
The news comes amid growing concerns a hardline group of Brexiteer Tory MPs could sink Mrs May’s plans by voting against them in the House of Commons.
Former Cabinet ministers David Davis and Boris Johnson, alongside hardliner Jacob Rees-Mogg, are thought the most likely to lead such a rebellion.
The Government hoped to set out the terms of its exit with EU leaders at their regular meeting on October 18.
But the extra four weeks were added to allow both sides more time.
David Lidington, Mrs May’s deputy, told the BBC that it was straightforward to organise an emergency meeting of the EU council to agree the exit terms.
He said: “I was Europe minister for six years. I lived through enough emergency European council meetings to know that the European council can call additional meetings when it wants to.”
One anonymous EU source told the Telegraph: “If it can’t be done at the end of October, what is an extra two to three weeks going to do?
“We better get working now.”
The UK is not set to leave the EU until March 29 next year – but the withdrawal agreement needs to be settled in advance in order to allow UK and EU parliaments time to approve the terms of exit.
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