No red carpet treatment for May!

Theresa May has been in Berlin to beg Angela Merkel for a short delay to Brexit - but the 27 EU member nations are set to impose a year-long extension with heavy restrictions including a 'Boris-proof' clause. 

The crucial emergency summit got off to a bad start when Mrs May arrived to find nobody waiting for her on the red carpet after Mrs Merkel, who normally greets guests on arrival, was still inside today.  

And later the pair had a frosty-looking exchange on a balcony overlooking Berlin's Tiergarten, although the German Chancellor was smiling when she waved off the Prime Minister as she heads to Paris to meet Emmanuel Macron.

The PM is hoping that her cross-party talks with Labour will convince EU leaders to give her a short extension to Article 50 at a summit in Brussels in Wednesday, before Britain leaves the bloc with No Deal by default on Friday. 

Mrs May met Mrs Merkel before flying on to Paris for talks with Macron this evening, where the French President will reportedly climb down from his No Deal threat but tell her Britain must leave by Christmas this year. 

Discussions with Jeremy Corbyn do not appear to be making any progress with minister Dr Liam Fox warning Mrs May that the customs union with the EU Labour is demanding would be the 'worst of both worlds' and EU leaders are growing tired of repeated extension requests.  

At an EU meeting in Luxembourg today Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, Sweden and Hungary said they would back a Brexit extension. But France and even Greece, whose economy was bailed out three times since 2008, said they are worried about the 'credibility' of the EU if Britain gets a long extension. 

At home she is also facing a growing Cabinet revolt, with Andrea Leadsom openly challenging the PM's authority this morning by saying Merkel should make changes to the Irish border backstop - which the EU has repeatedly refused to do. 

EU leaders are preparing to impose a long delay to Brexit until around March 2020, are fearful that a new Brexiteer Prime Minister, such as Boris Johnson, could cause havoc within the EU during this time.

To counter this threat, the EU will 'Boris-proof' any Brexit delay and refuse to let the UK have any say in future EU budget talks and trade deals until Britain leaves, it was revealed today. 

An EU diplomat told The Times: 'If there is a wild Brexiteer as a new Tory PM, they would be able to do nothing until after March 31, 2020, unless they subscribe to the withdrawal agreement. We will simply not hold talks. If a new British leader refuses these terms it will simply be 'no deal' on the date with plenty of time for us to prepare.'    





MailOnline