MPs must signal their support for Theresa May’s Brexit deal by Tuesday evening or the prime minister will ask the EU for a long delay to Britain’s exit, Downing Street has confirmed.
Number 10 has said it will not bring the deal back for a third meaningful vote unless and until it has a “realistic prospect” of passing the Commons.
Talks are ongoing to win the support of the DUP, seen as crucial in persuading Tory Brexiteers and potentially Labour MPs to switch sides and back the agreement.
But if they fail to produce a breakthrough before Commons business ends on Tuesday at 7.30pm, parliamentary rules mean May will have run out of time to call a third meaningful vote on Wednesday – the last opportunity before she travels to the European Council summit on Thursday.
She has already made clear that if her withdrawal agreement is not approved by that time, she will ditch plans to seek a short technical delay to Brexit beyond March 29 to pass necessary legislation, and instead ask EU leaders for a much longer extension of the Article 50 withdrawal process.
May’s official spokesman told reporters in Westminster: “That’s the logic of the position that the House voted upon last week.
“The PM set out very clearly that if the House hasn’t passed a deal by Wednesday then she will be able to ask for a short technical extension, if it did not do so she will have to ask for a long extension.
“It is a matter of fact that if there is a vote that is going to take place on Wednesday then the deadline for tabling that motion would be Tuesday evening.”
A long extension would mean the UK being forced to take part in European Parliament elections in May.
The spokesman confirmed that in practice, the deadline for escaping fresh polls will fall some time between April 11 and 14, in order for the legislation to trigger the elections to pass.
Meanwhile, Number 10 refused to comment on reports in the Evening Standard that May could sacrifice her chief Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins, blamed by many Tories for softening Brexit, in order to win support for her deal.
The spokesman also made clear that the withdrawal agreement will not be reopened after former foreign secretary Boris Johnson urged May to have one last try to renegotiate the Irish backstop which has generated so much opposition.