UK Edition
British officials 'putting out feelers' with EU for Article 50 extension
British and European officials are discussing the possibility of extending Article 50 amid fears a Brexit deal will not be completed by March 29, the Telegraph can reveal.
Three separate EU sources confirmed that UK officials had been “putting out feelers” and “testing the waters” on an Article 50 extension, even as the Government said it had no intention of asking to extend the negotiating period.
The discreet diplomatic contacts, described by one source as officials “just doing their homework”, emerged as a minister broke ranks for the first time to raise the possibility of extending the talks.
Margot James, the digital minister, admitted that “we might have to extend Article 50” if Theresa May loses next week’s Parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal.
Downing Street said Ms James was wrong, but her comment sowed suspicion among Brexiteers that ministers were trying to soften up MPs for the possibility that Brexit will have to be delayed.
As tensions in Westminster heightened before next week's vote, a business minister vowed to resign from the Government if it proved necessary to stop no deal.
Leave-supporting Tories fear the party will be punished at the polls - starting with the May local elections - if the Prime Minister breaks her promise to take Britain out of the EU on March 29.
Mrs May faces another moment of danger on Tuesday with the likelihood that the Government will be defeated in a vote that would shackle the Treasury in the event of no deal.
A Labour amendment to the Finance Bill - the legislation that gives the Budget legal status - would restrict the Government’s powers to pursue a no-deal Brexit unless Parliament has voted for no deal or the Government has requested an extension of Article 50.
Senior EU diplomatic sources confirmed that despite the Government’s official position UK officials were now exploring the terms under which the EU might agree to extend Article 50.
“Until now, this didn’t come up, but we’re hearing it more and more now,” said one diplomatic source. “We presume this is based on some conversations in Westminster, even though we are clear the Government is formally dead against it and doesn’t want to do it.”
Any extension to Article 50 must be unanimously agreed by all EU member states, and EU officials have hinted in the past that the UK could be granted a "technical extension" in order to give time to enact legislation or complete a general election or referendum.
“We hear talk of the Government forcing through legislation without scrutiny, but honestly wonder how realistic that is,” said a second EU diplomatic source who admitted knowledge of some informal contacts on the topic of extending Article 50.
EU sources have indicated that the limit of any extension would be until July 6, when the new European Parliament sits for the first time, but even after this date EU leaders would face a tough decision over whether to allow a "no deal" if the UK wanted more time.
Some regional analysts question whether, when confronted with the prospect of a no deal, the EU might be prepared to go further than a mere "technical extension".
Mujtaba Rahman, the lead Europe analyst at the Eurasia Group risk consultancy, said that thinking on extending Article 50 on the EU side had started to shift in recent months.
“The current deal is a good one for the EU and it won’t want to throw it away unnecessarily, so the union’s position towards an extension has evolved, and it is more nuanced than it was a year ago,” he said.
“For some time, the expectation in Brussels has been that the impasse in the Commons would inevitably push the UK towards an extension. That’s now looking much more likely.”
Number 10 is pinning its hopes for winning the Brexit vote on getting help from Brussels in the form of reassurances that the Irish backstop will only be temporary.
But Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tories, writes in The Telegraph that opposition to the Brexit deal has hardened among fellow Brexiteers over the Christmas break.
He writes: “The hope [in Downing St] that the public would tell MPs to back Mrs May has proved forlorn with those who came up to me urging me to back Brexit and the Referendum result.”
Even if Mrs May wins the vote, she has been warned that she may already have run out of time to get the necessary legislation through Parliament to enable an orderly exit from the EU.
Ms James told the BBC's Politics Live that she expected MPs to "coalesce" around Mrs May’s Brexit deal "or something very similar", saying: "This country cannot afford to leave the European Union with no deal."
Asked what would happen if MPs did not back a deal, she said: "If that proves to be impossible then I think we have very little time left but ... we might have to extend article 50.”
Business minister Richard Harrington said he would definitely quit to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal, but said he believed Britain would leave with the Prime Minister's deal.
"We will not be leaving with no deal," he told BBC Two's Newsnight. "We're going to leave with the Prime Minister's deal. And I think people are beginning to realise that it's the Prime Minister's deal or there may not be a Brexit."
But asked whether he was prepared to resign to stop a no deal Brexit, Mr Harrington said: "Definitely, I would."
Ms James' assessment conflicted with Downing Street’s efforts to get MPs to confront the unpalatable alternatives to Mrs May’s own deal, shutting down any suggestion that the hard decisions on Brexit could be delayed any further.
The Labour amendment to the Finance Bill has the backing of at last 12 Tory rebels, meaning almost certain defeat for Mrs May.
Its backers claim it would stop the Treasury making tax changes without the agreement of Parliament in the event of a no-deal Brexit. However the Government claims it relates to only "minor" tax-raising powers and is unlikely to hinder a no-deal Brexit.
On Monday night Downing Street and Julian Smith, the Chief Whip, were in discussions over whether to accept the amendment unopposed to avoid a damaging defeat ahead of the Brexit deal vote.
Dozens of Tory MPs, including the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, attended a drinks reception in Downing Street on Monday night hosted by Mrs May, at which she once again set out the case for her Brexit deal.
All Tory MPs have been invited to attend one of two receptions, with another one happening on Wednesday, as Parliament prepares to restart the debate on Mrs May’s Brexit deal that was halted when she postponed the “meaningful vote” on it last month.
The vote on the Brexit deal is now expected to go ahead next Tuesday.