Brexit: 5 fast facts this morning as Theresa May descends on EU delay summit

Theresa May is jetting to Brussels tonight for another humiliating performance to 27 leaders of the EU.

In a conference room dubbed “the space egg” in EU HQ, she beg for a short delay to Brexit because we don’t have a plan.

But fed-up EU leaders are likely to rebuff her and demand a much longer extension.

And France’s Emmanuel Macron could lead a hardline bid to make things much more difficult for the UK.

If talks collapse tonight, it’s barely 48 hours until we crash out of the EU without a deal.

Here are 5 fast facts you need to know this Wednesday morning.

1. Theresa May’s jetting to Brussels – and faces a humiliating long Brexit delay

Theresa May jets to Brussels tonight for a summit of 27 EU leaders – two days before we’re due to crash out of the EU.

After a last-minute dash to Paris and Berlin yesterday, she’s asking EU chiefs to delay Brexit from April 12 to June 30.

But EU Council President Donald Tusk brutally rebuffed her demand – and instead recommended a “flexible extension” of up to a year.

Mr Tusk said there’s ‘little reason to believe’ we can sort out Brexit by the end of June, telling EU leaders: “In reality, granting such an extension would increase the risk of a rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, creating new cliff-edge dates.

He went on: “We should also discuss an alternative, longer extension.

“One possibility would be a flexible extension, which would last only as long as necessary and no longer than one year.”

EU leaders will then gather from 4pm UK time for talks with European Parliament president Antonio Tajani, before hearing from Mrs May.

They will then eat dinner without her to agree how long that extension – currently marked as ‘XXXXX’ – should be.

A press conference with Mrs May is likely to be held late tonight before MPs are updated on Thursday.

2. Prepare for some brutal conditions – and an EU row

Some EU leaders will want to go much harder on Britain than President Tusk – notably Emmanuel Macron of France.

The French leader wants limits on the UK’s involvement in “future decision-making” in the EU, according to Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

That would stop the UK turning into a rogue partner in the EU, making things as hard as possible as a sort of blackmail to get its way.

The Times reports Macron wants to relegate Britain to an “intermediate member state” excluded from top decisions

He also wants a “mechanism” to push Britain into a no-deal Brexit if it commits bad behaviour, the paper reports.

Donald Tusk is pushing back on this – last night he warned “neither side should be allowed to feel humiliated”.

But it’s a bit late for that, and more importantly, it takes all 27 EU leaders to agree an extension. France is said to be backed by Greece, Austria and Spain.

“France will ask a lot of questions in Brussels,” an EU official told Reuters, and Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl told the BBC “a lot of conditions” could be put on a delay.

3. Theresa May’s honesty – and her job as PM – are on the line

Unless there’s a nuclear-scale breakdown tonight, Brexit will delayed – but the massive question is for how long.

It may sound similar but Theresa May (3 months) and Donald Tusk (up to a year) want totally different things.

That’s because delaying beyond June 30 means standing in European Parliament elections – a humiliation for the UK.

Tusk is much more likely to get his way. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay appeared to be cracking today, telling the BBC: “If there were to be an extension beyond [June 30], then it has to be one that is terminable.”

Asked if the EU were now in control he replied: “That’s a consequence of Parliament, not the government. It is Parliament that has forced this on the government.”

So how will May – who promised no delay beyond June 30 – react?

She told the House of Commons on March 20: “As Prime Minister I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30.”

If Brexit faces a long delay tonight, she should – in normal times – hand in her resignation as Prime Minister.

We’re not in normal times of course, but…

4. She is facing an utterly massive Tory revolt

Tory MPs are utterly furious at the delay to Brexit, with fewer than half backing it in a House of Commons vote last night.

Some 97 MPs voted against a delay to June 30 last night, with a further 80 abstaining or failing to vote.

9 DUP MPs also voted against a delay, with Westminster leader Nigel Dodds branding her late dash to Europe “humiliating and embarrassing” for the UK and accusing her of “holding out a begging bowl to European leaders”.

The motion passed easily 420-110 because Labour backs a delay, but a measly 131 Tory MPs backed the Prime Minister.

Expect movement to begin against the PM if Brexit is delayed beyond June 20.

The Telegraph reports local associations are ready to call for her ousting. And a senior backbencher tells the MP a plan is already being drawn up for a leadership contest.

The source claims the “barricades will open” with MPs demanding she stand down if there is a long delay.

Expect the mood to be tested twice today – first at noon’s PMQs in public, then at the private (but leaky) meeting of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers at 5pm.

5. Meanwhile, Labour talks are still going on

Brexit talks between Labour and Government ministers broke up without an agreement last night.

Tory ministers and Labour’s shadow Brexit team sat down for a marathon, four hour session of negotiations in a bid to break the deadlock.

But Labour said they had yet to see a “clear shift in the government’s position”, including on the key issue of a customs union.

Number 10 say a further round of talks will take place on Thursday after the summit.