INTERVIEW – MATTHEW ELLIOTT – Brexit strategist, Editor at Large at Brexit Central and was the CEO of the Vote Leave campaign
- UK’s May asks a wary EU to delay Brexit until June 30. LONDON — Exactly 1,000 days after Britain voted to leave the European Union, and nine days before it is scheduled to walk out the door, Prime Minister Theresa May hit the pause button Wednesday, asking the bloc to postpone the U.K.’s departure until June 30. EU leaders, who are exasperated by Britain’s Brexit melodrama, said they would only grant the extension if May could win Parliament’s approval for her twice-rejected Brexit deal. Otherwise, the U.K. is facing a much longer delay to Brexit, or a chaotic “no-deal” departure from the bloc. In a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, May acknowledged that the Brexit process “clearly will not be completed before 29 March, 2019” — the date fixed in law two years ago for Britain’s departure. In asking to delay Britain’s withdrawal until June 30, May said she would set out h er reasons to EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on Thursday. Tusk said he thought a short delay to Brexit “will be possible, but it would be conditional on a positive vote on the withdrawal agreement in the House of Commons.”For his part, the president called the Republican lawyer a “whack job” in remarks to reporters and a “stone cold loser” on Twitter.
