Brexit Halted, PM Johnson Does not Conceive Postponements

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday it was up to the EU to decide whether it wanted to delay Brexit and for how long, after a defeat in parliament made ratification of his deal by the Oct. 31 deadline almost impossible.

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On the verge of opting for an extension, Boris Johnson has made clear his position that he does not envisage a lengthening of the negotiations. His deadline remains the end of this month, and continued comments from a tough Brexit or general election continue to cloud the landscape.

The premier stated that he would not allow the country to continue a discussion like this with such a divided parliament, thus the Brexit discussions take a pause in the EU's response.

 "I will talk to EU member states about their intentions until they make a decision, we will pause this legislation," Johnson said, adding that "our policy remains that we should not delay."

This comes as Johnson has scored a political victory by convincing the UK's divided parliament to back a Brexit deal for the first time in two years of political turmoil. But the win was shortlived as Parliament threw out Johnson's idea of speeding up the approval of the legislation in the House of Commons in just three days.

Legislators voted in favor of the second reading of the legislation for agreement and there is still no guarantee of success since the bill could be amended by legislators who want changes. The chamber disagreed with the government's and Johnson's position of leaving on Oct. 31.

"I must express my disappointment that the House voted again for the postponement," Johnson told the MPs.

The next step would be to wait for the EU to respond to a request Johnson sent to the bloc bound by lawmakers to postpone Brexit's divorce date.

"The EU must now decide how to respond to Parliament's request for a postponement," he said. "The government must take the solely responsible course and speed up our preparations for an outcome without agreement."