May to UK lawmakers: Back my Brexit deal or face long delay

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May warned Sunday that it would be "a potent symbol of Parliament's collective political failure" if a Brexit delay meant that the U.K. has to take part in May's European Parliament election — almost three years after Britons voted to leave the bloc.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, May also cautioned that if British lawmakers failed to back her Brexit deal before Thursday's European Council summit, "we will not leave the EU for many months, if ever."

"If the proposal were to go back to square one and negotiate a new deal, that would mean a much longer extension ... The idea of the British people going to the polls to elect MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) three years after voting to leave the EU hardly bears thinking about," she wrote.

May is expected to try to win Parliament's approval of her withdrawal agreement from the EU for the third time this week. After months of political deadlock, lawmakers voted Thursday to seek to postpone Brexit.

That will likely avert a chaotic British withdrawal on the scheduled exit date of March 29 — although the power to approve or reject a Brexit extension lies with the EU. The European Commission has said the bloc would consider any request, "taking into account the reasons for and duration of a possible extension."

By law, Britain is leaving the EU on March 29 with or without a deal, unless it cancels Brexit or secures a delay.

May is trying to persuade opponents in her Conservative Party and its parliamentary allies to change their minds and support her Brexit withdrawal agreement, which Parliament has already resoundingly defeated twice. If she wins that parliamentary approval, Britain's departure from the bloc can likely take place with just a "short technical extension" beyond March 29.

Ahead of a third...