May wants more time on Brexit deal

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday asked lawmakers for more time to renegotiate the Brexit agreement with the European Union as a Thursday vote looms. May told the House of Commons she is still working to reach a deal with the EU that lawmakers will support. Parliament will get another chance to vote on May’s proposal on Feb. 27 if she does not clinch the amendments by this week’s vote. “The talks are at a crucial stage,” May said. “We now all need to hold our nerve to get the changes this House requires and deliver Brexit on time.”

Last month, Parliament gave May a two-week deadline to revisit the agreement’s “backstop” on the Irish border, the deal’s major sticking point. The EU and Britain had agreed to no border controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland, but pro-Brexit British lawmakers argued that would keep the country tied to the bloc indefinitely. EU officials insist the agreement is nonnegotiable.

Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn rejected May’s latest appeal for time, saying her only plan is “to run down the clock hoping members of this house are blackmailed into supporting a deeply flawed deal.” If May cannot work out a new deal with the EU that lawmakers will approve, Britain could end up cutting ties with the EU on March 29 with no transition plan in place.