Prime Minister Theresa May has urged UK lawmakers to support her after the European Union said it could only grant her request to delay Brexit for three months if parliament next week backs her plans for leaving.
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May had earlier asked the EU to let Britain delay its departure date from March 29 to June 30, a question that leaders of the remaining 27 member states will discuss at a summit on Thursday.
European Council President Donald Tusk said it would be possible to grant Britain a short postponement if parliament next week backs May's divorce agreement, which it has already voted down twice.
Should that happen, Tusk said no extraordinary EU summit would be needed next week before the current Brexit date. Otherwise, he said he might convene the leaders again.
"I believe that a short extension will be possible, but it will be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons," Tusk told journalists.
He did not comment on the possibility - which he himself has suggested - that another option such as a longer delay might be offered to avoid a painful no-deal exit if May's deal was voted down again.
May said British lawmakers had spent long enough saying what they did not want from Brexit, and that people were tired of their infighting, political games and arcane procedural rows.
"I passionately hope MPs (lawmakers) will find a way to back the deal I have negotiated with the EU," May said in a televised address.
She said lawmakers had a choice: leave the EU with a deal, leave without a deal, or not leave at all.
"It is high time we made a decision," May said, telling Britons: "I am on your side."
Earlier, she had told a rowdy session of parliament that she could not countenance the prospect of a long delay - which could give time for notional alternative approaches to emerge, but would infuriate Brexit supporters in her own party.
"As prime minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June," she said.
If she cannot win over enough reluctant lawmakers next week, Britain faces the choice of requesting a longer delay or leaving the EU as planned on March 29 - without a deal to cushion the economic upheaval.
The opposition Labour Party accused May of "blackmail, bullying and bribery" in her attempts to force her deal through.
Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU by 52 per cent to 48 - a decision that has split the country, opening up divisive debates over the future of the economy, Britain's place in the world and the nature of Britishness itself.
Australian Associated Press
