British PM says UK could leave EU with a deal as soon as possible

11 April 2019 14:18 (UTC+04:00)

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The UK Prime Minister Theresa May told a news conference on Thursday that Britain could leave the European Union before the 30 June, adding that she has been reaching out to find a way to get Brexit agreement in the UK Parliament, Trend reported citing Sputnik.

EU members states and the United Kingdom agreed Thursday upon an extension of the Brexit deadline until 31 October, giving London additional six months to figure out the best possible way out of the withdrawal deadlock, the European Council President, Donald Tusk, said on Thursday.

However, a further delay of Britain's departure from the EU after the newly agreed deadline looks very unlikely, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Reuters on Thursday.

"I would expect this is the last delay", Rutte said. "On October 31 the British will either have agreed to a deal, have decided to cancel Brexit or leave without a deal. But then we will have had six more months to prepare for that", Rutte told Reuters on Thursday.

May has asked Brussels for a delay until 30 June, but the European Union considered a much longer extension, even though London did not ask for it. The European Union has already given the United Kingdom a Brexit extension until 12 April, but the country's lawmakers have failed to agree on the withdrawal arrangements, meaning that London could have crashed out of the bloc without an agreement on Friday.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has advocated giving up access to the EU customs union and using the post-Brexit transition period to agree a UK-EU trade deal that would allow her country to become a global trading nation. Her plan was rejected three times by the parliament.

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