United Kingdom parliament gives final approval for Brexit

The European Union is considering forcing the U.K.to wait until June for formal negotiations to begin on the terms of Brexit, eroding the time Prime Minister Theresa May has to land a deal, according to EU officials.

But foreign secretary Boris Johnson told ITV’s Robert Peston that, while he expected the negotiations to produce a satisfactory agreement, it would be “perfectly okay” for Britain to leave without a deal.

The top Tory’s remarks to the cross-party Exiting the EU Committee, chaired by Labour’s Hilary Benn, came just minutes after EU Council chief Donald Tusk warned against a no deal scenario.

Theresa May has been granted the power to formally start the Brexit process whenever she wants, after parliament approved legislation on Monday night granting the government the power to invoke Article 50. Asked about Boris Johnson’s recent comment that leaving without a deal would be “perfectly okay”, Mr Davis said he “dealt in fact” and disparaged “throwaway lines in interviews”.

Explaining Mrs May’s “no deal is better than a bad deal” mantra, Mr Davis said: “She said that because in the emotional aftermath of the referendum, there were lots of threats of punishment deals and all the rest of it”.

But given the impact on both sides, it said that it should be a “key national and European Union interest” that such a situation was avoided.

The concession may have been influenced by United Kingdom government lawyers, who say there is no legal obligation for Britain to pay any money at all and that Britain could even be due significant sums back.

“Making an equivalent mistake would constitute a serious dereliction of duty by the present administration”.

“There is a real prospect that negotiations will fail”, committee chairman Crispin Blunt, a lawmaker in May’s ruling Conservatives, said in a statement. “The responsibility on the negotiators is substantial”.

Of particular concern is whether Britain decides to remain in the EU’s single market, the borderless trade area that also allows European Union citizens to live and work, without a visa, in any other European Union country.

“Our EU colleagues are not reassured by a government which tells them that deportation is not going to happen but declines to convert that assurance into law; some are anxious, some are desperate, some are already making plans to leave”, the letter said. “But it’s in absolutely everybody’s interests that we get a good outcome”. If there is another delay to the Bill, the process will likely be delayed until the last week in March to avoid clashing with the Dutch elections. Lords will then have to decide whether or not they wish to stand once more against May’s plans again.

“There are some very serious issues highlighted in this report which must be addressed”.