Under pressure to soften Brexit plans, Theresa May signals faster pace

Jack Taylor | Getty Images

British Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the Council of the European Union on the first day of the European Council leaders’ summit on June 28, 2018 in Brussels, Belgium.

European leaders told Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday to soften some of her red lines on Brexit, warning her that time was running out to prevent Britain crashing out of the European Union without a deal.

At an EU summit focused more on a crisis over migration than on Brexit, the region’s leaders expressed rising frustration over the lack of progress in the talks, just nine months before Britain is due to leave.

May has hesitated to spell out detailed plans for Britain’s departure from the EU because of divisions in her ruling Conservative Party and government over the terms of Britain’s biggest foreign policy shift in almost half a century.

“We did expect that we would make more progress, or any progress, at this summit in June … That hasn’t been,” Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told reporters after arriving in Brussels.

“We, as 27 member states, are willing to be more flexible but, in order to be flexible, the United Kingdom needs to soften some of its red lines.”

His comments that Ireland would prepare ports and airports for a so-called “no deal” Brexit sent the euro lower against the dollar, and increased pressure on the British leader to start pushing the talks forward.