Theresa May has ruled out delaying Britain’s exit from the EU as negotiations continue to stall over the size of the Brexit divorce bill.
Brexit negotiations were scheduled to move onto discussions of Britain’s future relationship with the EU next month.
However, under the EU’s timetable, Britain must first make “significant progress” on agreeing our financial obligations to the EU, before the discussions can move onto this next phase.
The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said last week that there had been “no decisive progress,” suggesting that talks are likely to be delayed beyond October.
This has led to calls for an extended transition, or even an extension to Britain’s membership while talks continue.
Under Article 50, the process by which Britain will leave the EU, exit can be delayed or revoked if there is unanimous agreement from EU member states.
However, a spokesperson for the prime minister today ruled out any delay to Brexit.
“The deadline is there and right and we don’t recognise at all this idea that we will extend it,” the spokesperson said.
“We will be leaving the European Union in March 2019.”
Asked if they would explicitly rule out any delay to Brexit, they replied “yes”.