May pushes back Brexit vote

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday postponed the parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal until March 12, days before her country’s scheduled exit from the European Union. May said her staff would continue negotiations with EU leaders after they returned from the EU-Arab League Summit in Egypt. She met on Monday at the summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. “It’s still within our grasp to leave the EU by the 29th of March, and that is what we are planning to do,” she said. May went back to EU leaders to renegotiate after the British Parliament rejected the first Brexit withdrawal plan in a January vote. But the EU remains unwilling to reopen the deal.

The rescheduling could increase tension between May and her opponents, who accuse her of intentionally delaying the vote to force them to either accept the rejected deal or leave with no plan in place. Three top British Cabinet members threatened Saturday to join the opposition in pushing for an extension to Britain’s departure if there is no significant progress this week.