The Latest: May faces backlash in UK over Brexit comments
By Associated Press
Mar 21, 2019 5:38 AM CDT
Light shines between the EU flag, left, and the Union Flag, right, prior to an EU summit at the Europa building in Brussels, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. European Union officials received a letter from British Prime Minister Theresa May requesting a Brexit extension and they hope to have more clarity...   (Associated Press)

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Latest on Brexit (all times local):

11:35 a.m.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a backlash from lawmakers who have taken umbrage with her decision to blame lawmakers for the country's inability to forge a consensus on a divorce deal with the European Union.

May told a frustrated public in a televised address to the nation Wednesday that she was "on your side" in efforts to carry out the results of the 2016 referendum to leave the EU.

But many lawmakers — whom she needs to win over to get her deal passed — were infuriated Thursday.

Anna Soubry, of the breakaway Independent Group, described it as the "most dishonest and divisive statement from any Prime Minister." Labour's David Lammy called the speech "sinister,2 while Conservative Sam Gyimah tweeted it was a "low blow."

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10:55 a.m.

Slovakia Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini says his country is ready to approve only a short delay to Brexit.

Pellegrini says he would agree only to a postponement until the European Parliament elections scheduled for May 23-26 but not until June 30 as British Prime Minister Theresa May has requested.

Speaking Thursday to lawmakers in Parliament before his trip to Brussels, Pellegrini was critical of Britain's position.

He says: "They vote on something every other day but it's leading nowhere. I don't have an idea about what Britain really wants to do."

Pellegrini says he is against changes to an already agreed deal with Britain on Brexit that Britain's Parliament rejected twice. He says he would only consider possible changes to a political declaration that accompanies the deal.

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10 a.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she will work "until the last hour" to try and ensure that Britain doesn't leave the European Union without a deal.

Merkel spoke to German lawmakers before a summit Thursday at which Britain will seek to delay its departure from March 29 to June 30. Britain is currently scheduled to leave next week, with or without a deal.

Merkel said that Germany has put "the most important emergency measures" in place to deal with a no-deal Brexit. She added: "we will, despite these measures we have taken, work until the last day — I will say until the last hour — to ensure that this emergency planning doesn't come into effect." She said "we will do everything in the remaining, admittedly few, days to achieve an orderly, joint solution."

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9:50 a.m.

Lithuania's president has said before a European Union summit in Brussels that she believes the bloc will agree to extend the Brexit deadline.

Dalia Grybauskaite says the EU "will certainly be inclined to help (British Prime Minister Theresa May) to talk to the U.K. parliament."

Grybauskaite told Lithuania's LRT Radio that "we will definitely approve (an extension)," according to the Baltic News Agency, the region's main news service. Lithuania became an EU member in 2004.

May is heading to the summit on Thursday, a day after requesting an extension to the Brexit deadline until June 30. She will try to persuade EU leaders to delay Brexit by up to three months, with her plans to leave the bloc in chaos just eight days before Britain's scheduled departure.

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9:30 a.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says European Union leaders could approve a short delay to Brexit in principle so long as Britain's Parliament passes a twice-rejected withdrawal deal next week. She says that if that doesn't happen, another EU summit might be needed.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is seeking EU approval for delaying Brexit from March 29 to June 30 at a summit starting Thursday. That request is complicated by European Parliament elections May 23-26 that Britain doesn't want to participate in.

Merkel told German lawmakers that "we can comply in principle with this request if we were to have a positive vote next week on the withdrawal documents in the British Parliament," but the EU must take care that the legitimacy of the European elections is ensured. She added that, if the withdrawal deal isn't passed next week, "we will keep open whether there has to be another meeting of the European Council before the withdrawal date."

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8:05 a.m.

Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to persuade European Union leaders to delay Brexit by up to three months, just eight days before Britain is scheduled to leave the bloc.

May will meet the 27 national other EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday, a day after she requested an extension until June 30.

European Council chief Donald Tusk says a short delay may be possible, but only if Britain's Parliament approves May's divorce deal with the bloc before the scheduled March 29 departure date.

U.K. lawmakers have already rejected the deal twice. May says they face a "final choice" between her deal, a no-deal departure that could hammer the economy, and cancelling Brexit.

But May angered many legislators with a televised speech Wednesday blaming Parliament for the Brexit impasse.

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