May heads to Berlin, Paris to ask for Brexit extension

UK Prime Minister Theresa May was travelling to Berlin and Paris on Tuesday to ask for a short Brexit extension as Britain faced the prospect of a no-deal departure on Friday.

May was scheduled to meet with her German counterpart Angela Merkel on Tuesday morning before talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in the afternoon.

Merkel was reported to be supportive of an extension to Article 50 but Macron has said the UK would have to justify any delay with evidence of progress in parliament towards a deal.

European leaders are holding an emergency summit on Wednesday to hear May's latest proposal.

Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier said any extension "has to serve a purpose...the issue of the length of the extension, which has been discussed at great length....has got to be in line with the purpose being striven for....to serve a purpose or an aim".

He added that the Withdrawal Agreement was "more than a deal it's a genuine treaty and that means no-deal would never be a decision of the European Union".

"It is the responsibility of the UK to tell us what they want, they can always revoke Article 50," Barnier told a news conference after a meeting of the EU's general affairs council.

Romanian foreign affairs minister George Ciamba said the EU would have to "take stock that Prime Minister May expressed the political will to organise (UK participation in) European elections, which is a step forward, and, which is just as important, we have a discussion in London with the Labour Party".

May has been in talks with the main opposition Labour Party in an effort to reach cross-party consensus. Negotiations on Tuesday would joined by Chancellor Philip Hammond and his opposition shadow John McDonnell.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn indicated that despite lengthy meetings with Downing Street, there had been no sign of a shift in position from the government on a plan to keep the UK in the EU's customs union.

"Talks have to mean a movement, but there has been no change in those red lines," he said on Monday. "Our position is, customs union, market access (and) protection of (workers rights).

May has insisted that she wants to end freedom of movement, UK membership of the customs union and single market – a position Brexiteers characterise as “taking back control”.

Overnight, parliament passed legislation to delay Article 50 - the mechanism that drives the Brexit process - which would force the government to set out its timetable for the length of the delay to stop the UK leaving with no deal.

The Bill was drawn up by Labour MP Yvette Cooper and the Conservative Oliver Letwin and sailed through the legislative process in just three days. It passed its final stages in the House of Lords on Monday night and was given final approved, known as Royal Assent, by the House of Commons later in the evening.

The government later tabled its motion outlining May's intension to seek an extension until 30 June, already once rejected by the EU. Debate will take place in the Commons on Tuesday.