Theresa May suggests she will quit as Prime Minister if her deal is not passed by end of June
2 min read
Theresa May has hinted that she will resign unless MPs approve her Brexit deal by 30 June.
The Tory leader twice told the Commons that "as Prime Minister" she would not allow the Article 50 process to be extended beyond that date.
Downing Street officials then refused on four separate occasions to deny that Mrs May intended to quit if the deal has still not been passed by then.
A spokesman said: "It's important that the Prime Minister sends a very clear signal about her view of the right way forward and that is precisely what she has done. She doesn't believe a long extension is the right thing to do."
Asked directly if it was correct to infer that she could leave Downing Street within weeks, the spokesman said: "What you should infer is her determination to get this over the line.
"You should infer from those words the strength of the Prime Minister's resolve and the extent of her determination to deliver this."
Mrs May had earlier written to EU Council president Donald Tusk setting out her formal request to extend Article 50 beyond 29 March in order to give her more time to win Parliamentary approval for her deal.
At Prime Minister's Questions, she told MPs: "On Thursday the House voted in favour of a short extension if the House had supported a meaningful vote before this week’s European Council.
"The motion also made it clear that a longer extension would oblige the United Kingdom to hold elections to the European Parliament. Mr Speaker, I do not believe such elections would be in anyone’s interests.
"The idea… that three years after voting to leave the EU the people of this country should be asked to elect a new set of MEPs is, I believe, unacceptable."
However, Downing Street would not confirm that Mrs May's Cabinet backed the three-month extension.
Senior Brexiteers in the Prime Minister's top team of ministers told her on Tuesday that they would resign if she asked for a longer extension.
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