Theresa May will hop across the English Channel on Tuesday for her latest last-ditch attempt to prevent the U.K. from leaving the European Union without a deal.
The British prime minister will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and then French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris to try to convince them to extend the deadline for Brexit until June 30.
The EU has already delayed Brexit once — to April 12, or May 22 with a deal — to give May more time to get her divisive withdrawal agreement approved by the House of Commons. But there has been little sign of the deadlock being broken.
May has reached out to Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, in a bid to find a consensus and, while she visits Merkel and Macron today, a cross-party group of Conservative and Labour MPs will continue to try to thrash out a compromise that will see parliament finally ratify a deal.
Meanwhile, the U.K. parliament’s clear objection to a no-deal Brexit was underscored on Tuesday night when a bill put forward by the Labour MP Yvette Cooper to prevent such an occurrence was enshrined into law; it means May must seek an extension to Brexit beyond April 12.
However, if EU leaders decide against granting further delays at a summit due to take place on Wednesday and Thursday, then the U.K. could still crash out of the bloc at 23:00 BST on Friday.
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