British PM’s Brexit plan plunged into new turmoil with latest proposal

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British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit strategy has been plunged into new turmoil after she suggested the process of leaving the European Union might have to be extended to resolve the fate of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

On Thursday, Ms. May she said she would consider prolonging the continuing Brexit negotiations with the EU “for a matter of months – and it would only be for a matter of months.” However, EU officials have said the extension would likely last a year, meaning the U.K. would effectively remain in the EU until December, 2021. That would be five years after the U.K. voted to leave the EU in a referendum in June, 2016.

The possibility of an extension has infuriated hard-Brexit backers in Ms. May’s Conservative Party caucus where support for her Brexit strategy is already weak. Many Tory MPs were quick to condemn Ms. May’s suggestion, saying it is unnecessary stonewalling and violates the spirit of Brexit. One MP called for the Prime Minister to “stand aside” and five former Tory cabinet ministers issued an open letter urging her to scrap her strategy. “I’m afraid she is losing the confidence now of colleagues of all shades of opinion,” Tory MP Nick Boles told the BBC. “That is not an acceptable way for a leader of a government to behave.”

The intensity of the backlash has eroded Ms. May’s negotiating position and increased the chances the U.K. will leave the EU next March without any agreement on a framework for future relations in trade and other areas. Many British business leaders fear a no-deal Brexit would be devastating to the economy because it could lead to the imposition of stiff tariff and non-tariff barriers by the EU, which is the U.K.’s biggest trading partner.

The proposal to extend the talks emerged at a two-day summit of EU leaders in Brussels, which ended Thursday. During the gathering many leaders expressed frustration at the lack of progress in the talks and some blamed Ms. May for not offering any new solution to the Irish border issue, which has become the main stumbling block. The boundary has been largely invisible since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of sectarian violence known as the Troubles, and both sides have said they want to avoid any return to a hard border. But they have yet to figure out how to do that once the U.K. is out of the EU’s single market, which allows for the free movement of people, goods and services.

Ms. May said extending the negotiations could buy time to resolve the issue. Under the current arrangement, the U.K. is set to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, but both sides have agreed to a transition period lasting until December, 2020, during which they would implement the terms of a new relationship. Throughout that time, the U.K. would essentially remain in the EU and contribute toward the bloc’s budget. But it would not have representation in EU institutions. The EU has also insisted on a backstop that would keep Northern Ireland inside the single market after 2020 if no deal was reached.

Ms. May has balked at the backstop, arguing it would isolate Northern Ireland from the rest of the country. Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has also rejected the idea, fearing it could lead to a reunification of Ireland, which the party bitterly opposes. The Conservatives don’t have a majority in the House of Commons and rely on the 10 DUP MPs to stay in power.

Ms. May insisted on Thursday that a deal on the future relationship was still possible under the current time frame and the extension was only an option.

“The point is that this [extension] is not expected to be used,” she said.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the European Commission, which is the EU’s executive branch, also welcomed the idea. “I think that this is giving us some room to prepare the future relation in the best way possible,” he told reporters after the summit.

But in the U.K., Brexiteers reacted with outrage to the idea of an extension, raising doubts that it would be approved by Parliament. Many worry the U.K. would have to continue contributing to the EU budget until 2021 while others argue the U.K. should cut ties with the EU in March and negotiate a trade deal.

“If Theresa May is asking for a longer transition period, she is stalling,” said Tory MP Nadine Dorries. “It’s time to stand aside and let someone who can negotiate get on with it and deliver.”