Theresa May, the prime minister of the UK, has said that she is “not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30” while speaking in the country’s parliament today (Wednesday, March 20).

May confirmed that she had written to European Council President Donald Tusk requesting an extension to the Brexit ‘deadline day’ of March 29; she has asked for that date to be pushed back to June 30.

The prime minister expressed her hope that she would be able to revive the withdrawal agreement – which was negotiated late last year and has been defeated in two separate votes in parliament.

I am writing to inform the European Council that the UK is seeking an extension to the Article 50 period until June 30, 2019.

On Monday, the speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, ruled that the deal could not be brought back for another vote unless it was “substantially different”.

However, in her letter, May was confident that she would be able to bring the agreement back to the table for a third vote.

May also asked the European Council to approve agreed documents between herself and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission.

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May argued that if she could have these agreements confirmed by the council, then her parliament would be in a position to ratify the withdrawal agreement, but added that: “Clearly this will not be completed before March 29,” as a result of the lengthy parliamentary procedure.

In the letter, May did not make any reference to a delay beyond that point; it had been speculated that a delay to Brexit could have been as long as two years.

Speaking in parliament, the prime minister insisted that the UK should not play any part in the upcoming European elections in May.