Britain has enough of meaningful or crucial votes over Brexit as the sorry saga’s plot twists and turns yet again.
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Now, Prime Minister Theresa May is exchanging letters with European Union senior civil servant Donald Tusk.
She is asking for a Brexit extension until the end of June with a no-deal departure from the bloc looking in only nine days.
He is making clear that the request for a delay needs to come with a package of measures supporting the extension.
When the letter hits his desk, Tusk will call a meeting of the remaining 27 EU states who must unanimously accept the delay request.
Boxing clever
This is expected to happen within the week, giving the British government time to try and ratify a withdrawal agreement at Westminster.
Mrs May “won’t be asking for a long extension” when she writes to the EU, a Downing Street spokesman said: “There is a case for giving Parliament a bit more time to agree a way forward, but the people of this country have been waiting nearly three years now.
“They are fed up with Parliament’s failure to take a decision and the prime minister shares their frustration.”
She must ask for a delay as MPs have thrown out her withdrawal agreement twice with a resounding no and pulled a no-deal departure off the table.
But Mrs May might be boxing clever.
Everyone wants Britain to go
The EU want Britain gone. If we don’t go by June, Britain must be included in the forthcoming EU elections and be represented in major decisions, like the setting the EU budget in 2020.
For Europe, it would be like having a surly, disruptive teenager in the room when important decisions must be made.
At Westminster, Brexiteers want Britain gone as well, and she may well hope that they will accept a version of her deal in order to go now rather than later.
The knack Mrs May seems to have is uniting adversaries with opposing views against her, and she might have done it again with her request to delay Brexit.
The risk is nothing will change and Britain will teeter off the brink with a no deal later rather than sooner.
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