THE UK Government has for the first time indicated Brexit Day on March 29 could be delayed to help get the necessary legislation through Westminster.
The suggestion by Andrea Leadsom, the Commons Leader, came as a row flared up after Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, suggested a no-deal outcome could result in soldiers guarding the Irish border.
As MPs prepare to debate and vote on a range of Brexit alternatives on Tuesday - including a bid to delay Brexit to avoid a cliff-edge departure - there are just 62 days to Brexit Day.
Ms Leadsom said that she was absolutely certain if the UK “needed a couple of extra weeks or something,” it would be feasible, given Britain’s “very strong relationship with our EU friends”.
The acceptance by a Cabinet minister the timing of Brexit could be shifted at all will give heart to those in Labour, the Conservatives, the SNP and Liberal Democrats pressing for a more substantial delay to avoid a no-deal outcome and, possibly, to enable a People’s Vote.
In a BBC Newsnight interview, Ms Leadsom stressed that she had "grave concerns" about a bill, proposed by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, to extend the Article 50 process by nine months to the year-end.
But she said while Westminster could pass all the necessary legislation by March 29 if a deal were finally agreed, the Commons Leader explained that if more time were needed, the EU would be amenable to extend withdrawal for a few weeks.
“I am absolutely certain that if we needed a couple of extra weeks or something, then that would be feasible," she declared.
The UK Government has always stressed Brussels would only grant an extension if a deal were agreed with the EU27; it would not do so simply to allow the UK more time to consider its options.
In Davos at the World Economic Forum, Mr Varadkar created political waves after he said a hard border due to a no-deal outcome would “involve people in uniform and it may involve the need, for example, for cameras, physical infrastructure, possibly a police presence, or an army presence to back it up”.
Later, Dublin insisted the Irish Prime Minister was “not referring to Irish personnel and the Irish Government has no plans to deploy infrastructure or personnel at the border".
But Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Fein President, described Mr Varadkar's comments as "reckless and irresponsible".
She accused the Taoiseach of painting a “doomsday scenario of a return of soldiers to the border in the event of a no-deal Brexit” and added: "If that is the case, then the only way to prevent such a scenario is by affording the Irish people their say in the form of a border poll on Irish unity.”
Elsewhere:
*Chancellor Philip Hammond declined to say if he would quit if Britain headed towards a no-deal Brexit, a move he denounced as irresponsible;
*Treasury minister Mel Stride warned a no-deal Brexit could threaten the constitutional survival of the UK, involving a border poll in Northern Ireland and another independence referendum in Scotland and
*Ian Lavery, the Labour Chairman, dented the hopes of those who want the Opposition to back a People’s Vote campaign after he said another EU poll would risk “serious damage” to the relationship between voters and politicians.
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