Sadiq Khan has told Michel Barnier the EU must prepare to delay Brexit given the lack of support in parliament for a deal, and growing support for a second referendum.
The mayor of London said he “quite forcefully” made the point during an hour-long meeting with the EU’s chief negotiator that Brussels must be ready for the UK to stay as a member state beyond 29 March next year.
An extension of the two-year negotiating period, allowed under article 50, would need the unilateral support of the 27 other member states, which Khan suggested the European commission needed to start work on.
The mayor, a former Labour MP, said there was no majority in the Commons for a deal and that the “politicians had failed”. Extra time, he said, would be required to allow a second referendum to be staged on the terms of the UK’s deal with the EU.
“The point I made to Michel Barnier, really quite forcefully, is that there is a possibility of the British parliament rejecting the deal that Mrs May secures from the EU,” Khan told the Guardian. “There is a very real possibility of there being either a general election, which I think is less likely, or a referendum. In those circumstances I suggested the EU should begin preparatory work on the extension of article 50.
“Because what would not be a good thing in my view is if we managed to get a referendum but it was too late because we had left the EU or the EU had not made preparations for an article 50 extension.”
Khan added: “Whatever Theresa May brings back will probably be rejected by cabinet, almost certainly rejected by the party, and if not will definitely be rejected by parliament
“That’s why I said to Michel Barnier: listen, you need to start preparing for the possibility of extending article 50 because if that is the case we will need time to have a referendum.”
[...] “It is a false choice to think that the only options are a bad Brexit deal or a no deal. My concern is that because a no deal is so catastrophic that MPs will think the only sensible option is to vote for the deal that Prime Minister May has negotiated which is a bad Brexit deal.
“It would be bad for the UK and London, but it would be bad for the EU too. Nobody should presume that jobs that leave London in the financial sector are going to Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid. They are more likely to go to New York, Singapore and Hong Kong.” [...]
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