EU leaders have agreed with UK Prime Minister Theresa May on a plan to delay the Article 50 process, which will delay Brexit beyond the previously formally agreed upon date of 29 March 2019.

The UK will be offered a two-tier extension that will see an offer to delay the process until 22 May 2019 if MPs approve the withdrawal deal negotiated with the EU next week. However, if MPs reject the deal, then the EU will back a shorter delay until 12 April 2019.

In a statement on 20 March, May said she had requested a short extension of Article 50 up to the 30 June to give MPs the time to make a final choice.

European Commission President Donald Tusk commented, “all options remain on the table… the UK government will still have a chance of a deal, no deal, a long extension or revoking Article 50. If the UK has not decided by 12 April whether to take part in the elections the “option of a long extension will automatically become impossible.”

A petition to revoke Article 50 and cancel the UK’s plan to exit the EU exceeded 5 million signatures as of this week.

May has said not leaving the EU would cause “potentially irreparable damage to public trust”.

Earlier this month, the UK government made a commitment to not “reduce the standards of workers’ rights from as they are in European Union laws post Brexit, and any new legislation changing those laws will be assessed as to whether they uphold this commitment.”