Britain will leave the European Union on 29 March and that the bloc would only extend 'Article 50' negotiations with a credible alternative Brexit plan B, UK prime minister Theresa May said at PMQs on Wednesday.
"Today it was asked a simpler question: should the next step be a general election? I believe that is the worst thing we could do," she said to the sound of hecklers. "It would deepen division when we need unity. It would bring chaos when we need certainty. It would bring delay when we need to move forward."
"At this crucial moment in our history a general election is simply not in our national interest" says Theresa May, who called a general election just weeks after triggering Article 50.
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) January 16, 2019
Her comments come after European Commission spokeswoman Margaritis Schinas said on Wednesday that whilst talks would continue, the withdrawal agreement was "not open for renegotiation".
"We are always ready to meet and to talk, but the European Council in its Article 50 formation said in December that the withdrawal agreement, and I repeat, the withdrawal agreement, agreed by the 27 [EU members] and the United Kingdom is not open for renegotiation," Schinas said during a press conference.
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The Prime Minister also said that the EU would only extend Article 50 if Parliament was "clear" there was an agreement underway. But the Commission stated that the UK has not requested to extend Article 50 to date.
UK Labour and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a no-confidence vote on Wednesday after MPs voted down PM May's Brexit deal on Tuesday in what is considered the biggest political defeat in British history, by a margin of 230 votes. Mrs. May had scheduled the 'meaningful' vote on her Brexit plan in December, but postponed it to 15 January to seek reassurances from Brussels, citing fears that her plan would be overwhelmingly rejected by MPs.
