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Theresa May says she had to reach out to Labour or risk letting Brexit 'slip through our fingers'

In a video posted on Twitter, a smiling Prime Minister said she had to look for compromise from the opposition to get Brexit through.

UK PRIME MINISTER Theresa May has said that she can’t see MPs backing her Brexit deal “as things stand”, which has forced her to reach out to the opposition Labour party for a compromise.

In a video posted on Twitter today, May said the choice that lay ahead “is either leaving the European Union with a deal, or not leaving at all”. 

It comes as the possibility yet remains open that the UK could leave the EU without a deal this coming Friday. The Prime Minister has asked Europe to delay Brexit until 30 June, and EU leaders will consider this request at a summit this Wednesday.

May’s Conservatives are currently in negotiations with Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party to try to find a way to move forward with Brexit that would ensure a majority in the House of Commons back some sort of deal.

So far, MPs have voted against Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement three times.

The Prime Minister has said she has no appetite for a no-deal, but that isn’t echoed by some colleagues within her party and her Cabinet.

Senior Tory MP Andrea Leadsom told the BBC today that a no-deal Brexit would be preferable to cancelling Brexit, and that her party was working “through gritted teeth” with Labour on the issue.

She said a no-deal Brexit wouldn’t be “nearly as grim” as some fear, and that prolonging Brexit long enough to hold European elections in the UK is “utterly unacceptable”. 

Yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it was “highly unlikely” any EU member state would veto the UK’s request for a further extension but said Ireland doesn’t want an extension that “just allows for more indecision”. 

If May must go to Europe with a new plan to deliver Brexit, then her hopes now appear pinned on an agreement with Labour.

So far, a consensus has not been reached.

In a statement last night, she said: “”The longer this takes, the greater the risk of the UK never leaving at all. It would mean letting the Brexit the British people voted for slip through our fingers.”

Corbyn said this weekend that he hadn’t seen any great change in the government’s position so far, and was still waiting “to see the red lines move”.

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Sean Murray
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