Theresa May Meets Emmanuel Macron for Delay Request

Theresa May is holding last-minute Brexit talks with the French President Emmanuel Macron, with the UK due to leave the EU in three days' time.

The UK PM will urge Mr Macron to back her request to delay Brexit again until 30 June, having earlier met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

After the talks, Ms Merkel said a delay that runs to the end of the year or the start of 2020 was a possibility.

There is a summit on Wednesday when all EU states will vote on an extension.

Meanwhile, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said cross-party talks aimed at breaking the impasse in Parliament had been "open and constructive", but the two sides differed on a "number of areas".'

Labour's shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey said they were "hopeful progress will be made" and discussions with the government will continue in the "coming days".

In a leaked letter seen by the Telegraph, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has warned that agreeing with Labour over its demand for a customs union is the "worst of both worlds" and will leave Britain unable to set its own trade policy.

Downing Street said Mrs May and Ms Merkel discussed the UK's request for an extension of Article 50 - the process by which the UK leaves the EU - to 30 June, with the option to bring this forward if a deal is ratified earlier.

The prime minister and Chancellor Merkel agreed "on the importance of ensuring Britain's orderly withdrawal", a statement said.

Ms Merkel said EU leaders would discuss a "flextension" - a one-year flexible extension - at Wednesday's summit.

Following a meeting of the EU's General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, diplomats said "slightly more than a handful" of member states spoke in favour of a delay to 30 June and a majority were in favour of a longer extension.

BBC Brussels reporter Adam Fleming said no maximum end extension date was agreed, although December 2019 and March 2020 were mentioned.

Conditions of a delay were discussed including UK participation in May's European Parliament elections, no re-opening of the withdrawal agreement and how to guarantee the UK's pledge of "sincere co-operation" in ongoing EU business.

So far, MPs have rejected the withdrawal agreement Mrs May reached with other European leaders last year.

One of most contentious parts of the plan is the Irish backstop - an insurance policy that aims to prevent a hard border returning to the island of Ireland.

The EU has continually said it will not re-open the withdrawal agreement for negotiations, but Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom renewed her plea for them to look again.

Meanwhile, Andrea Leadsom suggesting this morning it would be 'fantastic' if Merkel was suddenly willing to open up talks on the backstop.... erm... that's absolutely not the govt's official position

On Monday evening, Parliament passed a bill brought by Labour MP Yvette Cooper, which aims to force the prime minister to request a Brexit extension - rather than leave the EU without a deal on Friday, which is the default position.

The government opposed the bill, saying it was unnecessary as Mrs May was already seeking an extension. But the backbenchers behind it wanted to ensure it became law to prevent any changes in her strategy.

As a result, MPs are debating a government motion asking MPs to approve the PM's request to the EU to delay Brexit.

The final decision on an extension lies with the EU - and the leaders of all the 27 other EU countries have to decide whether to grant or reject an extension.

If the UK is still a member of the EU on 23 May, it will have to take part in European Parliamentary elections.

Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said the UK would "certainly not" leave without a deal on Friday.

But Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said a no-deal Brexit was still possible - even though it would represent "an extraordinary failure of politics".

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the EU has "hope and expectation" from the cross-party talks happening in Westminster and he would be willing to "improve" the political declaration "within hours"

FROM  .bbc.com/news/uk-politics