May sees 'no immediate breakthrough' on Brexit deal at summit

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she did not expect an immediate breakthrough on her troubled Brexit deal at the European Council summit in Brussels.

May also confirmed she will not lead the Conservatives into the next general election after fending off a no confidence vote against her on Wednesday night.

"I don’t expect an immediate breakthrough (on the deal), but what I do hope is that we can start to work as quickly as possible on the assurances that are necessary," she said, referring to the contentious Irish backstop deal.

"I don’t think we could agree to anything that would change the content to the treaty, the content to the withdrawal agreement. What we can say is the backstop is not on the table. It needs to be there for a reason."

May met the Irish Taoseach Leo Varadkar for talks on the backstop, the arrangement which places the UK in the customs union if a trade deal is not reached, as part of her campaign to win concessions and sell the deal back to her sceptical MPs.

"It was a very good meeting, it was an opportunity for all of us to put forward ideas that might work, things that might be considered. It really wouldn’t be helpful to go into that sort of detail," Varadkar said afterwards.

He added that the threat of a no-deal Brexit could be "withdrawn at any point by the UK should they choose to revoke article 50 or, if that’s a step too far, to extend it to allow us more time, and to allow Britain more time. That’s certainly an option, but my preferred option is to ratify the deal we have".

German leader Angela Merkel said it was "good news" that May survived the no-confidence vote and "can continue with her work".

"And we will hear from her again about what her ideas are. However, I would also like to say that I believe the exit agreement has been well negotiated and we will discuss among ourselves afterwards how we will proceed. Of course we also have our basic values and I do not see that we could change the agreement again."

May refused to give a date for her departure from Downing Street, but it was the first public confirmation of her promise to MPs ahead of Wednesday’s no-confidence vote to quit before the 2022 poll.

“Yes, I’ve said that in my heart I would love to be able to lead the Conservative Party into the next general election, but I think it is right that the party feels it would prefer to go into that election with a new leader,” May said.

“People try to talk about dates; what I’m clear about is the next general election is in 2022 and I think it’s right another party leader takes us into that general election.”

Meanwhile in London, May's spokeswoman said the Brexit deal vote would not happen before Christmas but would take place shortly after the new year.

The government has promised the vote will take place before 21 January. May controversially pulled the vote, which had been due to take place on Tuesday evening at the end of five days of debate, after she realised it would be defeated heavily.