EU leaders rebuff May’s Brexit plea

EU leaders rebuffed a plea by Theresa May on Thursday to help her sell her Brexit deal to parliament, warning she must set out exactly what she wants -- and announcing they would step up contingency plans in case the deal collapses. The British prime minister came to a Brussels summit a day after seeing off a challenge to her leadership by her own Conservative MPs, but still facing huge opposition to the divorce deal with the EU.

She told the other 27 leaders the agreement could still pass the House of Commons next month if they helped her reassure lawmakers over a controversial “backstop” clause on Ireland, a British official said. But European sources said the atmosphere in the room was tense, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders repeatedly interrupting May to ask exactly what she wanted.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters afterwards: “Our UK friends need to say what they want instead of asking us what we want.” He added: “Theresa May has led a courageous fight, but unfortunately we are not seeing the results.” May floated the idea of setting a target date to agree a free trade deal with the EU if one had not been agreed by the end of a post-Brexit transition period, to avoid Britain falling into the backstop. But European leaders have said they will not accept a time limit, and after May left agreed a statement that the Brexit deal “is not open for renegotiation”.

With May having promised to have something to offer MPs before they finally vote on the Brexit deal by January 21, Juncker said she would have to come up with proposals in the next few weeks if she wanted Europe’s support. However, he said he would publish further plans on Wednesday to protect European businesses and citizens in case the deal fails, and Britain exits on March 29 with no new arrangements place.