EU govts reportedly back second Brexit delay

Germany and most other EU governments will back another delay to Brexit regardless of who becomes the next UK prime minister, the Times reported on Friday, citing an unnamed source.

The paper reported that European governments believed the successor to Prime Minister Theresa May would be forced to use the extra time for a second referendum to break the deadlock in Westminster, with a final deadline is expected to be as late as next spring.

“We hate it but we are going to give them another extension. In the end no one wants to be seen as the one who pulls the plug,” the paper quoted the source as saying.

Several leadership candidates, including the frontrunner Boris Johnson, have declared that Britain will leave the EU on October 31 with or without a deal.

However, others, such as Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, have suggested that to force the UK out regardless would be political suicide.

“There would be no majority for it in the parliament and the government would collapse,” the source said.

“A new government . . . will probably say, ‘We can’t decide, we will ask the people again’ — a second referendum. They will probably ask the question, are we going to accept this treaty [the withdrawal agreement] or just pull out? We will see where the majority is.”

Most European governments agreed that Brexit could not be extended beyond June next year because an EU deadline to agree a seven-year spending plan starts in 2021, the report stated.