Brexit news latest: European elections will go ahead on May 23, Theresa May’s deputy admits

Theresa May’s deputy today admitted the European elections cannot be stopped – and that Brexit will need more time.

David Lidington said the national elections to the European parliament will go ahead on May 23.

He told the BBC he hoped a Brexit deal could be “done and dusted” by the summer parliamentary recess, in late July.

Mrs May had been hoping cross-party talks would deliver a compromise deal in time to allow her to call off the elections.

Only days ago the Conservatives put out a leaflet claiming that the elections could be stopped if MPs at Westminster passed a withdrawal deal to enable Brexit to finally happen.

But ministers now accept they do not have enough time to ratify a deal and the best they can hope for is to leave the EU before the newly elected MEPs take up their seats in July.

Mr Lidington acknowledged time was now too tight and said the Government would try to make the delay “as short as possible”.

Speaking shortly before cross-party Brexit talks with Labour resumed in Whitehall, Mr Lidington said: “Parliament has had several occasions to vote on leaving the European Union.

“So far, every time there has been a majority against leaving with any particularly orderly deal, so we are engaged as a Government in talks with the opposition, and with others across Parliament, to try and find a way forward.

“But what this now means, given how little time there is, is that it is regrettably not going to be possible to finish that process before the date that is legally due for European Parliamentary elections.”

He added that the Government had “very much hoped that we would be able to get our exit sorted and have the treaty concluded so that those elections did not have to take place”.

But he said “legally, they do have to take place”.

He added: “We will be redoubling our efforts and talks with MPs of all parties to try to make sure that the delay after that is as short as possible.

“Ideally we’d like to be in a situation where those MEPs never actually have to take their seat at European Parliament, certainly to get this done and dusted by the summer recess.”

The EU extended the deadline for Brexit to October 31 after losing confidence in Mrs May’s ability to get an earlier deal through the Commons.

Under EU laws, a member state must hold elections of MEPs in order for EU bodies to have legal status.