EU leaders agree to delay Brexit until 31 October – as it happened

We’re going to wrap up the live blog. Here’s what happened overnight:

• EU leaders agreed to offer the UK an extension on article 50 until 31 October, which Theresa May has accepted.
  
• Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, said that until that deadline what happens will be in the hands of the UK. It can ratify the withdrawal agreement, and leave. It can change strategy, or it can decide to revoke article 50 and cancel Brexit. He says the UK will remain a friend of the EU and ended his press conference with an address to “our British friends”: “Please, do not waste this time.”
  
  
• There will be a “review” of the situation on 30 June, but Tusk said the point of the review was to inform EU leaders what was happening and was “not a cliff edge”.
  
  
• French President Emmanuel Macron said he took responsibility for blocking a long Brexit delay and convincing other European Union leaders to agree to a shorter one, saying he did so “for the collective good”.
  
  
• In a press conference after the agreement was reached, May said “the choices we now face are stark and the timetable is clear”. She acknowledged the “huge frustration” that the UK had not yet left the EU.
  
  
• May repeatedly ducked questions about her future as prime minister, after having previously said she would not accept an extension beyond June 30. She simply insisted that the UK “can still leave on May 22 and not hold those European parliamentary elections” if parliament passes the withdrawal deal.
  
  
• The prime minister will now head back to London to give a statement in the House of Commons in the early afternoon on Thursday. Now that the threat of a no-deal exit has gone, parliament has scrapped plans to force parliament to sit on Friday and next week.

Thanks for following along, I’ll be back in a few hours with an early Thursday Brexit liveblog as May returns to Britain and prepares to address the Commons.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he took responsibility for blocking a long Brexit delay and convincing other European Union leaders to agree to a shorter one in order to preserve the functioning of the EU.

“It’s true that the majority was more in favour of a very long extension. But it was not logical in my view, and above all, it was neither good for us, nor for the UK,” he said.

“I take responsibility for this position, I think it’s for the collective good,” the French leader added before leaving the European Council in Brussels.

For those qui parlent français, the video of Macron’s comments is below.

Jeremy Hunt has said the Conservative Party would not fare well in an election without Brexit having been delivered.

Speaking on ITV’s Peston, he said: “It would be absolutely catastrophic for us to face the people again in a General Election if we have not delivered Brexit, which was our central promise at the last election.”

Hunt was also asked whether he would honour any deals Theresa May agrees with Labour in coming weeks to get Brexit through parliament if he were to become prime minister.

“The reality is that to get the Brexit deal through, the Withdrawal Agreement bill has to be ratified in law and it is the contents of that bill that will constitute any cross party agreements that allows Parliament to vote that through, so it’ll be a matter of the law, not a matter of...”

Peston said: “Laws can change, Prime Ministers can change laws.”

“If they have a majority in parliament,” said Hunt. “It may have escaped your attention, Robert, that no-one has a majority in Parliament to change laws.”

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, said Labour was concerned that agreements it reached with May would not be honoured by a future Conservative leader.

“One of the key issues for us in the discussions, they are confidential discussions at the moment, but obviously the agenda included for us how do we entrench any agreement that we achieve… We’ve gone in there positively and constructively, we’ve been in there trying to secure a deal which we think would work. But we’ve always said clearly our big worry is if we can make a deal with Theresa May, what happens when she goes?

Theresa May repeatedly ducked questions about her future as prime minister, after having previously said she would not accept an extension beyond June 30. She simply insisted that the UK “can still leave on May 22 and not hold those European parliamentary elections” if parliament passes the withdrawal deal.

May also once again blamed MPs for being the cause of public frustration over the failure to implement Brexit.

Asked whether she should apologise for the UK still being in the EU, she said: “Over the last three months I have voted three times to leave the European Union. If sufficient members of parliament had voted with me in January we would already be out of the European Union.”

The prime minister will now head back to London to give a statement in the House of Commons in the early afternoon on Thursday and it has scrapped plans to force parliament to sit on Friday and next week now the threat of a no deal Brexit has gone in the immediate term. The government will also have to lay a statutory instrument changing the date of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU to October 31.

This is Kate Lyons taking over from Andrew Sparrow.

First, some reaction from Scotland.

The SNP has released a statement urging the government to hold a fresh EU referendum and saying that Scotland has been ignored throughout the Brexit process and saying that the process shows “Scotland’s interests are best protected through independence”.

Commenting after the Brussels Brexit summit, Stephen Gethins MP said:

This is a watershed moment in the Brexit process. With the European Union agreeing to a further extension to Article 50, Theresa May must use this time to hold a fresh EU referendum with the option to Remain on the ballot paper.

It is welcome that we will not be crashing out on Friday but Scotland did not vote for Brexit and should not be forced to accept a Brexit deal put together by Labour and the Tories – parties that have ignored Scotland’s voice and interests every step of the way.

Following the outcome of this evening’s EU Summit, the presiding officer of the Scottish parliament has also issued a statement confirming that the Scottish parliament will not be recalled.

Rt Hon Ken Macintosh MSP, the presiding officer, said:

Following confirmation that the United Kingdom will not be leaving the EU on 12 April, I have taken the decision that Parliament will not be recalled.

Members have been made aware and Parliament is scheduled to meet again on 23 April 2019.

Q: Will your party see this deadline as a trick or a treat?

May says the UK could have been out by 29 March if MPs had backed her deal.

Now they must all work to get a majority in parliament, and to deliver on the referendum, she says.

Q: Tusk suggested the UK could get a further extension after October. Can you assure people Brexit will actually happen?

May says she is very clear that it must happen. She is working to get a majority in parliament.

And that’s it. The press conference is over.

Q: Yesterday 177 Tory MPs refused to accept your plan for an extension running until the end of June. Now you have agreed one until the end of October. How can you stay as party leader?

May says she wants to get an agreement as soon as possible.

Q: We could have left this week. You have promised we would be out by various dates, and now it is October. Don’t you owe the country and apology?

May says she has voted for her Brexit deal three times. She will continue to work to get it ratified as soon as possible.

Q: Can the 31 October be extended again? And what conditions are attached?

May says the UK will continue to abide by its obligations, and by the duty of sincere cooperation.

The deadline is now to achieve Brexit by October.

Q: You said a few days ago that you would not delay Brexit beyond 30 June. But you have agreed to this. So why should you be the person to preside over this.

May says what has been agreed tonight will allow the UK to leave before the end of June.

Here is the full text of the summit conclusions (pdf).

Q: What is the point of the sincere cooperation clause?

Tusk says EU leaders want a political declaration that the UK would cooperate seriously.

Juncker says this is a reference to treaty obligations.

He says there is some talk of the UK being able to block EU decisions. He says they had heard voices to this effect. [He is referring to people like Jacob Rees-Mogg and Mark Francois.] But there is nothing new about this, he says.

He says the opportunities for the UK to block decisions “are very, very limited’, he says.

Juncker says they will have Brexit with a deal. But it would be better to have a deal, and no Brexit, he says.

Tusk says at least they have reached an agreement here. That does not happen in the British parliament, he says.

And that’s it. The press conference is over.

Theresa May is due to hold her own press conference shortly.

Q: What is the point of the review in June?

Tusk says point of the review in June is to inform EU leaders what is happening. It is not a point of decision.

Juncker says in June they will just be taking stock.

Tusk says June is not a cliff edge, or a moment to take new decisions.

• Tusk plays down prospect of the EU ending the extension in June under the review procedure.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, is speaking now.

He says the commission is happy with this outcome.

He says, although the UK will remain a member, sometimes the EU27 will meet as 27.

He says there is precedent for this. He says he originally proposed that the Eurogroup of countries should meet on their own. At the time there was opposition to this, but it made sense.

He says there will probably be a European election in the UK.

He says people think they only talk about Brexit at the EU. When he reads the British press it is just Brexit, Brexit, Brexit.

But the EU has reached an agreement with China this week. But this was not widely reported.

Here are two EU leaders on the article 50 extension decision.

From the Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar

From Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister

Sky’s Faisal Islam has more on the legal process that will lead to Brexit being delayed.

From ITV’s Paul Brand

The main Tusk/Juncker press conference will take place in about 10 minutes.

Speaking on ITV’s Peston earlier this evening, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said he thought that the government/Labour talks intended to establish a Brexit compromise had the potential to produce a deal, but that so far there there were still “fundamental disagreements” between the two sides about the future relationship between the UK and the EU.

He said that officials on both sides would be holding talks later on Thursday. And there was a possibility of the politicians meeting again on Friday, he said.

Here is some more comment on the 31 October decision.

From Sky’s Lewis Goodall

From the Telegraph’s Gordon Rayner

From the Times’s Bruno Waterfield

Some minor changes are being made to the extension plan, ITV’s Paul Brand and Le Soir’s Jurek Kuczkiewicz report.

Emmanuel Macron will not be holding a press conference tonight, Catherine Nicholson from France24 reports.

The Sun’s Steve Hawkes agrees.

This is from Mujtaba Rahman, the former EU official who produces well-regarded Brexit analysis for the Euraasia Group consultancy.

Jack Blanchard from Politico Europe has some good news for MPs.

By tomorrow afternoon Blanchard means Thursday afternoon.

Ministers were planning to ask MPs to sit on Friday, and on Monday and on Tuesday next week. But those plans have now been scrapped, and the Easter recess starts at the end of proceedings later today.

Some of you may be wondering whether, under the terms of the Yvette Cooper bill (the one passed on Monday, against the wishes of the government, requiring the PM to request an article 50 extension) Theresa May has to come back to the Commons and get MPs to agree the new article 50 extension timetable, given that it is different from the one MPs voted to support on Tuesday.

The answer is no. The bill, as originally drafted, would have required a second vote in the Commons in these circumstances. But when the bill was in the Lords an amendment passed by Lord Goldsmith, the Labour peer, removed this requirement. Goldsmith argued that it would create uncertainty, because the PM could end up agreeing a new date at the EU summit and then needing to obtain retrospective backing for it in the Commons.

From the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope:

Here is some Twitter comment on the implications of a new 31 October deadline.

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg:

From my colleague Rowena Mason:

From the Sun’s Steve Hawkes:

This is from the Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat.

Here is footage of Theresa May arriving back at the summit HQ to be briefed on what the EU27 have decided to offer.

The Telegraph’s Peter Foster has more about how Emmanuel Macron’s intransigence has gone down badly with EU officialdom.

According to the Sun’s Nick Gutteridge, some EU officials have not been impressed by Emmanuel Macron’s conduct tonight.

Nothing is ever simple in Brexit. As the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg points out, faced with a choice between a short article 50 extension and a long one, the EU has settled for neither – or something in between.

It’s official. This is from Donald Tusk, the president of the European council.

From Sky’s Lewis Goodall

EU sources have confirmed that there will be an article 50 extension to 31 October with a review of British cooperation to determine whether there should be an earlier exit on 30 June – the date Theresa May originally asked for.

The June “break clause” has been put in to appease France, as the president, Emmanuel Macron, wanted assurances that the UK would conduct European elections properly.

Theresa May has arrived back at the summit, HuffPost’s Arj Singh reports.

More on the new Brexit deadline.

From the BBC’s Katya Adler:

From the Sunday Times’ Andrew Byrne:

From my colleague Jennifer Rankin:

European Union officials are considering an extension of the EU commission’s mandate should Britain be granted a long delay to its planned exit date, according to Reuters. The Reuters story goes on:

A Brexit delay beyond EU parliament elections scheduled on May 23-26 would force Britain to participate in the vote and elect representatives to the EU assembly - an option May wants to avoid but which could become inevitable if the British parliament fails to ratify a withdrawal deal in coming weeks.

British participation could change the political balance in the next European legislature, EU officials fear, as Britons are seen electing strongly Eurosceptic lawmakers, boosting already growing numbers of nationalists who seek to weaken the bloc.

Yet Britain’s Labour party, if it fields candidates, could boost the weight of the socialist grouping in the EU assembly, potentially allowing the centre-left to gain a majority.

Polls in the remaining 27 EU countries currently predict the centre-right will win most seats in the next EU parliament - so when Britain and its MEPs leave the EU, the majority in the European assembly could change.

That raises uncertainty over the next executive commission, which must be approved by European lawmakers. As a result, EU officials are considering extending the mandate of the existing executive led by Jean-Claude Juncker beyond its term which expires at end of October, the senior official said.

This extension, which would be limited to a few months, would avoid the risk that a changed power balance in the EU parliament after Brexit could raise doubt about the legitimacy of the new executive, the official said.

More on the possibility of October as a new deadline. This is from the Sunday Times’ Andrew Byrne.

This is from the FT’s Mehreen Khan.

From the Telegraph’s Peter Foster

After a short break, at the end of what was effectively the first round of talks in the EU27 meeting, EU leaders are now back in the room for the bit where they have to thrash out their differences. This is from Sky’s Deborah Haynes.

From my colleague Jennifer Rankin

23 June 2019 would be the third anniversary of the referendum.

John Whittingdale, the Tory Brexiter, also told Peston that the Conservatives would pay a price at the local elections for the “huge anger” that people feel about the fact that Brexit has been delayed.

Theresa May may be planning to stay in office until her Brexit deal has passed (see 10.28pm), but John Whittingdale, the Tory Brexiter and former cabinet minister, has just told ITV’s Peston that “more and more” of his colleague now think it is time for a new leader.

From Politico Europe’s Lili Bayer

Sophie in ’t Veld, a Dutch MEP and deputy to the European parliament’s lead Brexit spokesman, Guy Verhofstadt, told BBC’s Newsnight that MEPs were worried about the UK being a disruptive influence if it gets a long article 50 extension. She said:

It cannot be that we will be held hostage by the UK for who knows, months, maybe a few years even.

We need to be absolutely sure that the UK is not going to disrupt the work of the European Union. And there is a big question mark of course. Some government leaders have said that we can just have a code of conduct and ask the UK to not disrupt the European Union.

And then the question is, how reliable would a pledge be from the United Kingdom that they are not going to do that? Because legally speaking, as long as the UK is a member you have full voting rights and there is absolutely no guarantee.

Tweets by people like Jacob Rees-Mogg for example [see 10.35pm], that if we stay in the European Union that we disrupt things, it doesn’t create an atmosphere of trust here.

From the Sun’s Nick Gutteridge

This is from the BBC’s Adam Fleming.

These are from the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar.

This is from Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory Brexiter, responding to a New York Times article about the German Europe minister, Michael Roth, criticising Rees-Mogg for saying the UK would be disruptive if forced to stay in the EU.

And while we’re on the subject of comments BTL, thank you to everyone who has provided an answer to my query about “Brexit-Krimi-Nacht”. (See 9.37pm.) Here is a selection of the responses - all giving substantially the same answer, but with some readers picking up slightly different nuances from what is implied.

It sounds like a German version of the joke about tonight being the season finale of the Brexit box set.

I don’t know if this was intentional, but Theresa May and Angela Merkel are both fans of lowbrow detective drama. Merkel likes Midsomers Murders. (David Cameron apparently arranged to watch one when Merkel visited Chequers, as part of his doomed attempt to butter her up.) And May likes NCIS - another extremely undemanding crime drama.

The plot twists in Brexit are infinitely more thrilling ...

lionfood

10 April 2019 9:57pm

"Krimi-Nacht" seems to cause some confusion.
It mainly means you binge-watch some detecitive stories.
Bit like Hercule Poirot, Inspector Clouseau and Kommisar Rex all trying to figure out what Brexit means, while at the same time asking Miss Marple if she also knows anything about it?

antoniol

10 April 2019 9:59pm

"Krimi" is here coloquial and idiomatic.
Here, perhaps "night of suspense"; journalese would be "night of (high) drama.".

Possible translations in general - "a cliffhanger", "on tenterhooks".

It's the short form of "Kriminalroman", which literally means "detective story", or "crime/detective thriller".

DorotheaKant

10 April 2019 9:44pm

"Krimi-Nacht" would be a long evening with one of the detective films that are so popular in Germany, where you have to guess who done it, till the end. They can be very long, or at least seem very long, until the solution. The metaphor can also be used for a football game "Fußball-Krimi", and, alas, for Brexit.

lechwalesa

10 April 2019 9:44pm

Krimi-Nacht translates as thriller night Andrew. No real crime planned except the total waste of time and energy Brexit involves.

Jean-Francois Huertas

10 April 2019 9:44pm

I think the joke with the Brexit Krimi Nacht comment is that Krimi are usually considered low quality, cheap TV thrillers. That’s why’s its funnny

Greg Roche

10 April 2019 9:40pm

Andrew: the German word "Krimi" usually means a thriller (like a film or novel) so "Brexit-Krimi-Nacht" is a phrase which evokes a night of watching a Brexit horror film :)

I am afraid we are going to have to close the comments at 10.30pm. I am sorry about that, but our comments need to be moderated, we have not got an infinite supply of moderators, and the ones that we do have, who are all excellent, do sometimes like to go home.

From my colleague Jennifer Rankin

These are from the Irish Times’ Pat Leahy.

Florian Eder at Politico Europe says this tweet, from a German journalist, matches what we have been told about picture on Angela Merkel’s iPad that caused her and Theresa May some amusement. (See 6.22pm.)

Twitter translates this as “#May And #Merkel at the same time in London and Berlin before they go through a Brexit crime night together again in Brussels.” I’m afraid the “Brexit-Krimi-Nacht” reference is a bit beyond me. If someone can explain BTL, please do ...

From my colleague Jennifer Rankin

These are from the Telegraph’s James Rothwell and the Express’s Joe Barnes.

From my colleague Jennifer Rankin

From the AFP’s Damon Wake

And this is from my colleague Daniel Boffey.

These are from Sky’s Beth Rigby and the Telegraph’s James Rothwell, who have more on Emmanuel Macron pushing for a short extension.

These are from the Telegraph’s James Crisp.

Jeremy Corbyn has welcomed what Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said earlier about wanting the UK to have a say over EU trade policy if it stays in the customs union. (See 5.26pm.) Corbyn says this vindicates Labour’s position - which it would do, if other EU leaders agreed. As this Telegraph story suggests, that is not a given.

This is from Bloomberg’s Nikos Chrysoloras.

From the Sunday Times’ Andrew Byrne

The BBC’s Adam Fleming has the summit menu.

This is from RTE’s Paul Cunningham.

Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, is due to meet Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, in Brussels tomorrow. She will be accompanied by the DUP MEP Diane Dodds and the Tory Brexiters Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson.

In a statement issued ahead of the meeting, Foster restated her opposition to Theresa May’s Brexit policy. She said:

The European Union has spoken much about protecting the peace process and the Belfast agreement but has consistently ignored the views of unionists who do not want a new border erected between Northern Ireland the rest of the United Kingdom.

Despite the prime minister being warned about the opposition to her withdrawal agreement, she has limped along and tried to force people into a cul-de-sac where they have no option but to support her deal.

That is a weak approach and demeans the strength of this great nation. It is also foolish as it traps the UK and burdens future generations with a bad deal.

Our great democratic principles have been damaged. It is outrageous that almost three years after people voted to leave the European Union, we are potentially facing another European election in the United Kingdom.

This is from AFP’s Dave Clark.

This is from the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar.

“Better than last time” is not an especially high bar. At the last EU summit, after hearing Theresa May’s pitch, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, told his colleagues (once she was out of the room) that he had revised down his estimate of her chances of getting her deal through parliament from 10% to 5%.

This is from my colleague Daniel Boffey.

Here are the EU leaders around the summit table.

This is from the Telegraph’s James Crisp.

The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg has the iPad scoop. (See 6.22pm.)

This is from BuzzFeed’s Europe editor, Alberto Nardelli.

At his press conference Antonio Tajani, the president of the European parliament, made it clear that he was not happy about the idea of the UK electing MEPs on 23 May, only for them to not take their seats in the parliament if Brexit took place before 30 June. Theresa May seems to think this would be possible, but Tajani said he disagreed. These are from the Sun’s Nick Gutteridge.

UPDATE: Tajani then posted this on Twitter.

Here is the iPad clip. (See 6.22pm.)

Here is footage of the EU leaders milling around at the start of the meeting.

The highlight came when Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, showed Theresa May something on her iPad. May responded with a burst of laughter.

Sadly, the EU does not provide audio with this footage, so we don’t know what the joke was.

Here is Theresa May sitting alongside Donald Tusk at the European council meeting.

Antonio Tajani, the president of the European parliament, is now holding a press briefing after his session with the EU leaders. (See 5.37pm.)

He says he has eight points.

First, it is important to end the uncertainty around Brexit, he says.

Second, he said a no-deal Brexit could be avoided at all costs.

Third, he says the parliament wants to see an agreement between the government and the opposition in London as soon as possible.

Fourth, he says he wants greater clarity about the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

Fifth, he says the parliament wants more clarity about what is being negotiated in London, and it wants to know if there will be a clear majority of a way ahead.

Sixth, he says the parliament wants to know the UK will do if no agreement is reached. Will there be a referendum or a general election, or will article 50 be revoked?

Seventh, he says an extension must not be allowed to reopen the withdrawal agreement.

Eighth, he says if the UK remains in the EU beyond the European elections, it must take part in those election. But the elections should not be viewed as a game, he says.

He says these are the points he made when he addressed EU leaders earlier.

He says, asked what would happen to British MEPs after Brexit, he said they would not be able to stay in the parliament.

Here is the Guardian’s story from the opening of the summit.

Here is a clip of Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, speaking to the media when he arrived earlier. He said any article 50 extension would have to be “useful” and “serve a purpose”.

Any extension has to be useful and serve a purpose. Our common purpose is to get the ratification of the withdrawal agreement.

This withdrawal agreement is the only was to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the UK which is our common purpose.

This is from Preben Aamann, Donald Tusk’s spokesman. EU leaders have just started the first item on the summit agenda - a meeting with Antonio Tajani, president of the European parliament.

Xavier Bettel, the prime minister of Luxembourg, proposed “an intelligent extension” as he arrived at the summit. Asked what length extension he favoured, he said:

I would support an intelligent extension. If it’s long or short, the main point for me is that we have European elections. You can’t be a member and have no elections ...

If there is a longer extension, there is no lunch for free. So we need to know why, the reason they need a longer extension.

He also said that he hoped Brexit would be a “friendly divorce”.

Here are some extracts from what Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said as she arrived at the summit.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, lived up to his reputation as the most Anglo-sceptic of the EU’s leaders (at least in the context of Brexit) in his remarks to journalists as he arrived.

Krišjānis Kariņš, the Latvian prime minister, told reporters that it was up to the British to decide what they wanted as he arrived at the summit.

If the Brits are asking for a little more time to decide, it’s really up to the British parliament, the British government, the British people to decide.

It seems that there are really three choices: a no-deal Brexit, that’s always an option if the Brits were to decide that; a withdrawal with an agreement is an option because it has been negotiated; and I guess there’s a third possibility, of revoking article 50, if the Brits were to decide. So it’s up to the Brits to decide.

Today we will be speaking about it but it’s not our decision. We already have an offer on the table in terms of the withdrawal agreement. It’s up for the Brits to decide what it is that they want. If they need a little more time, I think it’s reasonable to discuss what that would be.

When it was put to him that EU leaders would decide the fate of the UK this evening, Kariņš rejected that. It would be up to Britain to decide its future, he said.

From the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope

Dalia Grybauskaitė, the Lithuanian president, told reporters that it was “highly probable” that the extension offered to the UK would be longer than the one until 30 June requested by Theresa May, the BBC’s Gavin Lee reports.

Stefan Lofven, the Swedish prime minister, told journalists there was “a lot of frustration” about Brexit as he arrived at the summit, Sky’s Greg Heffer reports.

The Czech prime minister, Andrej Babis, spoke to reporters as he arrived at the summit. He said he hoped that EU leaders would have a “short discussion” this time and that the meeting would not go on for eight hours, as it did last time the European council was discussing an article 50 extension.

He also said he expected the UK to “get much more time than expected”.

Speaking ahead of today’s summit, the French government stressed that another article 50 extension was not automatic. As Reuters reports, Sibeth Ndiaye, a government spokeswoman, said the issued had been discussed at the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee palace, before Emmanuel Macron, the president, left for the summit.

“The no-deal option is obviously the one we would least want ... there’s actually a risk and France is prepared”, she said.

Ndiaye said that France was open to granting an extension to the Brexit deadline but “this is not automatic.” France wanted a “clear and credible prospect” from Britain and commitments not to endanger the EU institutions, she said.

She refused to say what sort of extension France considered acceptable.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, normally addresses the German parliament before an EU summit. This morning she told German parliamentarians that the UK should be given “a reasonable amount of time” to leave the EU. She said:

I am, and the government is, of the view that we should give the two parties a reasonable amount of time.

We will deliberate over what kind of extension we want to grant Britain. It could well be that it is a longer extension than has been requested by the British prime minister.

But we will organise this extension such that when Britain has passed the withdrawal agreement, Britain can very quickly thereafter execute the exit in an orderly fashion.

So, in summary, the government is still very interested in an orderly exit of Britain from the European Union.

This is what Theresa May said as she arrived at the summit. She said:

The purpose of this summit is to agree an extension, which gives us more time to agree a deal to enable us to leave the EU in that smooth and orderly way.

What matters, I think, is I have asked for an extension to June 30 but what is important is that any extension enables us to leave at the point at which we ratify a withdrawal agreement.

So we could leave on May 22 and start to build our brighter future.

She was twice asked by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg what she would do if the EU insisted on a longer extension, given what she has said about not being willing to delay Brexit beyond 30 June as PM. (See 4.02pm.) Both times May refused to answer the question directly, instead insisting that she was requesting an extension until 30 June and that she was working to ensure that the UK could leave as soon as possible in a smooth and orderly way.

Theresa May is arriving at the summit now.

EU leaders are starting to arrive at the summit.

You can watch a live feed of the arrivals on the EU website here.

Good afternoon. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Peter Walker. I’ll be here to cover the EU summit - however late it goes.

In Brussels Theresa May will be arriving shortly, according to the BBC.

Update: it’s now being reported that Roger Scruton has been sacked.

A series of Conservative MPs and others have joined Labour’s call for Roger Scruton to be sacked as chair of a housing commission over comments about George Soros, Muslims and Chinese people.

After Theresa May failed to give him a clear answer at PMQs on whether she had offered a second referendum at any point during Brexit talks with Labour, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford has called on Jeremy Corbyn to “come clean” about what is being discussed:

If it is the case that the UK government has not discussed a second EU referendum in their talks with the Labour party – then it begs the question, what is Jeremy Corbyn up to? The leader of the opposition has been flaky at least on the question of a second EU referendum – he needs to come clean with the public on what exactly he is bargaining with the Tories, behind closed doors. People deserve to know the truth.

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon earlier repeated the SNP charge that Scotland has been sidelined by the Brexit process, tweeting:

Tonight, 12 of the 27 EU member states that will decide the UK’s future have populations smaller than or similar in size to Scotland’s. If we become independent we get to sit at that table - enjoying the same solidarity shown to Ireland - instead of being sidelined by Westminster.

At PMQs, May’s riposte to Blackford was quite the opposite – that Scottish independence would have meant taking Scotland out of the EU. But this is at odds with the EU’s Guy Verhofstadt, who has previously stated before a Commons committee that it was a “simple fact” that Scotland could join the EU without the UK.

Reuters has some new Brexit-related quotes from the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, and it’s probably fair to say they’re on the more gnomic side of things. Asked about a Brexit extension for the UK he said:

It is not certain there will be a delay. And it is not certain what that would mean.

In the Commons now the government is answering an urgent question from Labour on the second phase of the controversial trials of compulsory ID for voters, which will take place at the local elections on 2 May. At last year’s local polls five councils tested such schemes – this year it will be ten.

The idea is criticised by Labour and others for two main reasons. Firstly, the point to the concerns of charities and campaign groups representing people who are older, have disabilities, or from other vulnerable groups, noting that these people are less likely to have the ID and are so more likely to be disenfranchised.

Critics also note that while compulsory ID is meant to combat what is legally called “voter personation” – pretending to be someone else to claim their vote – this is in fact a tiny issue.

Cat Smith, Labour’s shadow minister for voter engagement, told MPs that of 266 cases of electoral fraud reported to police last year, the majority concerned campaign officials, and just eight were of alleged voter personation. “There is actually no evidence of widespread voter personation in the UK,” she said.

For the government, the not-to-be-confused-with-Cat-Smith Cabinet Office minister Chloe Smith said simply giving one’s name at a polling station was “an identity check from the 19^th century”, and that last year’s trial showed no reduction in turnout.

Labour’s Richard Burdon asks about possible factory closures by aerospace firm GKN. May says she will look into it.

And that’s it. PMQs is over.

The Green MP Caroline Lucas says young Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg is visiting parliament next week, and asks if May will meet her. She does not answer this in her response.

Next is a question on fishing and Brexit from Tory David Duguid, and one on universal credit from the SNP’s Drew Hendry. After that, Tory Neil O’Brien asks about access to another drug, one to treat spinal muscular atrophy.

Labour’s Wayne David asks about what he says is falling police funding, which May rejects. Then Tory MP Shailesh Vara and May agree with each other on the economic contribution of the UK’s Indian diaspora.

Now it’s Labour’s Stephen Hepburn, who asks a slightly high-concept question criticising the government’s overall record. The Tory Eddie Hughes asks about female representation at the top of corporations.

The answers to both are as you might expect.

Brexit again, at last. Tory Henry Smith asks whether the EU contributions for a long delay to departure could be better spent on other areas. May says she wants a brief delay.

It is now Labour’s Luke Pollard – whose birthday it is, the Speaker, John Bercow, notes as he calls him. It’s another question about universal credit, and the problem of weekly rent given the variable payments of UC. May says the issue is manageable.

Damien Moore, another Conservative backbencher, asks about disabled access at rail stations. May says progress is being made on the issue.

Now it’s the turn of Scottish Lib Dem Jamie Stone, who asks about decommissioning at the Dounreay nuclear plant, and job prospects amid this. May pledges government assistance on this.

Another Conservative Brexiter has a question, again not about Brexit. Theresa Villiers asks about police cuts in north London. May says this is a matter for the London mayor, Sadiq Khan.

Labour’s Mark Hendrick asks about universal credit and its role in child poverty and food bank use, asking when the government will scrap the new benefit system. May insists UC is a route out of poverty.

Conservative backbencher and keen Brexiter Daniel Kawczynski asks about school funding differences between regions, saying his local schools in Shropshire do worse than their equivalents in London. May talks up the new schools funding formula.

Labour’s Gill Furniss is up next, asking about the role of UK companies in the ongoing Saudi military offensive in Yemen. May says Britain has strong rules on such issues, and is seeking a ceasefire in the country.

Another non-Brexit question: Conservative backbencher Bob Blackman asks about the long-running issue of homes sold under leasehold terms with escalating ground rents. May points to government action on this.

Conservative MP Andrew Murrison asks a question about waste incinerators and their impact climate change, getting a positive response from the PM.

Next, Labour’s Ronnie Campbell asks about access to a new drug for cystic fibrosis. May said work is being done on this.

The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, asks May if the government has offered a second referendum at any point in the Brexit talks with Labour. The PM reiterates that she does not like the plan, but does not wholly answer the question.

Blackford’s second question asks if May will accept a long delay to Brexit, and a second referendum. Again, there is no real response.

After that fairly brief if concentrated exchange on cuts, Tory MPs Antoinette Sandbach raises this week’s new government plans on internet safety, inviting May to praise it – which the prime minister happily does.

More on council funding. Corbyn says the government has “abandoned communities across the countries”, and reels off a list of closures and cuts. He asks May to admit that her government have been “cruel and unfair”.

Not unexpectedly, the PM does not. She responds with yet more statistics, and a somewhat sweeping attack on Labour.

Corbyn reiterates his point on the new council funding formula, and stresses the crisis faced by local authorities now.

May says councils have had to make “some difficult decisions” and blames the last Labour government for the deficit.

Corbyn says new council funding proposals will make the differences between poorer and richer councils even greater. The Labour leader asks why this is happening.

May rejects this, saying the new plans will be fairer, and gets in a pre-local elections message about lower council tax under the Conservatives.

Using a similar comparison, Corbyn moves on to homelessness, and to child poverty. May again responds with a barrage of part-related statistics.

Corbyn moves on to child poverty, noting the connection to funding cuts in poorer areas. He uses Swindon and Surrey as examples where less well-off areas experience greater cuts.

May again rebuts this.

Jeremy Corbyn speaks now. He begins by noting it is the 21st anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, but then diverts from any Brexit follow-up to ask questions about council cuts, asking why poorest areas are facing the worst of these.

May responds by saying councils have a real-terms increase in funding this year.

PMQs starts a few minutes late, as often happens these days. An immediately tricky first question for Theresa May, as Tory backbencher Craig Tracey asks whether she agrees a no-deal Brexit would be best.

She does not.

A long day for the prime minister is beginning in earnest – she has left Downing Street for parliament, where she will take prime minister’s questions before heading directly to Brussels.

I interviewed MP Nick Boles for Today in Focus today, on Tory travails, leadership hopes and Brexit in general (writes Anushka Asthana, presenter of our daily podcast).

Interestingly, despite being a close friend of Michael Gove’s and supporting his leadership bid in 2016, Boles doesn’t think Gove - or anyone else in the current cabinet and linked to the referendum campaign - should be the next leader.

Instead, Boles argued that a long campaign, as for David Cameron, could find a younger, more unifying figure who could change the party’s fortunes.

On Boris Johnson (who Boles has observed closely), he said “at his best his has an ability to communicate with people at a level of gut” but often there is chaos, concluding: “I don’t think Boris Johnson is fit to be prime minister - no.”

Boles also seemed absolutely convinced that Amber Rudd would not back Johnson, adding that she had sacrificed her own chances to take a brave and principles position on Brexit.

As for why he ever became a Tory, Boles said that in 1997 he loved Tony Blair, but decided he’d rather be the most leftwing person in the Tories than the most right-wing in Labour.

Listen to the full interview here:

The UK’s GDP grew by 0.2% year-on-year in the last quarter, the best figure since late 2017, the Office for National Statistics has said – and it might have been driven in part by Brexit.

Industrial production rose by 0.6% in February, with the ONS saying there is some evidence it could have been driven by companies wanting to boost production before Brexit amid stockpiling efforts.

More on our business live blog here.

While it’s fair to predict that this will not necessarily derail the EU’s thinking, in a sign of the continued fury of Brexiter Conservative MPs, Bill Cash has tweeted a letter he has sent to Donald Tusk warning the European council president that a long extension to Brexit “is likely to be challenged in the UK courts”.

The letter is fairly long, but is based on the legal belief of some members of the European Research Group (ERG) of Brexiter Tories that because parliament voted to leave the EU, the government is now bound by that. Cash is a former solicitor, and chaired the ERG’s self-styled “star chamber” of lawyer-MPs, who decided they could not back May’s plan.

The Today programme chat with Barclay did not tell us much – for the most part he was in line-holding pattern, repeatedly saying that the government still wanted a 30 June extension, batting away most of the questions about what might actually happen.

One interesting element was that when asked about how he felt with the EU essentially being in charge, Barclay firmly blamed MPs, rather than the government, returning to the narrative in May’s much-criticised Downing Street statement from last month. Asked about the UK’s powerlessness, Barclay said:

That is a consequence of parliament, not the government. The government has agreed a deal with the EU. It is parliament that has forced this on the government.

Barclay had little of note to say about what might happen if the talks with Labour definitively broke down without a compromise plan:

If they fail, the prime minister has said that we will come back to parliament and look at how we then get clarity on a vote. One of the challenges there will be is how we have a stable majority to pass the legislation that would follow that vote. But, we would come back to parliament and seek to get a consensus on the various options.

Good morning. This is Peter Walker, standing in for Andrew Sparrow. He’s in this afternoon, and will take the live blog late into the evening for the emergency European council summit in Brussels.

Right now, the UK is officially two days away from leaving the EU without a deal. But this afternoon Theresa May will head to Brussels to seek an extension to Brexit. She wants a delay of no more than 30 June. But the EU27, mindful that the PM has nothing meaningfully new to offer them, after cross-party talks with Labour broke up until Thursday, seem minded to seek a year.

Can May accept this? More pertinently, will her cabinet? The Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay – a man, remember, who last month voted against extending article 50 after arguing in favour of it on behalf of the government – hinted this morning that he, perhaps, could.

Under repeated questioning on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Barclay sort-of-hinted he could, as long as the delay came with a break clause if the UK agrees a deal in the interim – a flex-tension, in the ever-changing parlance. Asked about a long delay, one that would involve the UK taking part in European parliament elections, he said:

I don’t want to see a delay for up to a year. But, the key with any delay is we are able to terminate it once we ratify in order that we can then get on and get a deal through parliament, ratify that agreement and leave the EU. And I think that is what the EU leaders want, it is what the Prime Minister wants.

Here is the agenda for the day (all UK times):

11.30am: Commons opens with Northern Ireland questions.

12.00pm: Prime minister’s questions.

4pm-ish: May due to arrive at the summit in Brussels.

5pm: Summit starts, with May speaking to the EU27 before they meet (and dine) without her to decide what happens.

Late evening/night: Announcement, and possible press conferences.

As with Andrew, I will endeavour to respond to queries, but the sheer number of comments plus a busy day might make it tricky. If you really want to get my attention (or point out a silly error) then try me on Twitter, @peterwalker99