THERESA May has announced she is to seek a further extension to Britain leaving the EU.

In a statement in Downing Street on Tuesday evening, the Prime Minister said she hoped to agree a deal with leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, which could be put to the Commons for approval before the European Council summit on April 10.

The PM added if that cannot be achieved, then a number of alternative options could be put to the vote.

Insisting that any resolution should take the UK out of the EU by May 22, Mrs May said: "This is a decisive moment in the story of these islands and it will require national unity to deliver the national interest.

"I have always been clear that we could make a success of no-deal in the long term but leaving with a deal is the best solution.

"So we will need a further extension of Article 50 - one that is as short as possible and which ends when we pass a deal.

"And we need to be clear what such an extension is for: to ensure we leave in a timely and orderly way.

"This debate, this division, cannot drag on much longer."

Mrs May added: "Today I'm taking action to break the logjam.

"I'm offering to sit down with the leader of the opposition and try to agree a plan that we would both stick to to ensure we leave the EU and we do so with a deal.

"Any plan would have to agree the current Withdrawal Agreement - it has already been negotiated with the 27 other members and the EU has repeatedly said it cannot and will not be re-opened."