Theresa May was today condemned for "craven" and "crisis" behaviour as she confirmed she has asked for Brexit to be delayed – but only until June 30.

The Prime Minister was forced to wildly slash back the amount of time planned for an extension after a furious Tory revolt.

Mrs May sent a formal letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk – exactly 1,000 days after Britain voted to leave the EU – that asks for a delay of three months at tomorrow's Brussels summit.

The PM's own deputy David Lidington said last week a short delay would be "downright reckless". And Mrs May said she'd only ask for a three-month delay if she had a deal – which she doesn't.

Yet today, after Brexiteers warned they'd resign if she delayed for too long, the brazen PM said: "I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30."

Within minutes a leak from the EU slapped down the PM's request. The document, obtained by Reuters, said a delay "should either last until 23 May 2019 or should be significantly longer".

Jeremy Corbyn told an uproar-hit session of Prime Minister's Questions: "We're now in the midst of a full scale national crisis.

Scroll down to read the PM's letter to Donald Tusk in full.

"Incompetence, failure and intransigence from the Prime Minister and her Government have brought us to this point.

"Parliament has rejected her deal, it's rejected no deal. The Prime Minister now has no plan.

"In an effort to break the deadlock, I've held meetings with members all across the house, and I'm having further meetings today, to find a compromise that supports jobs and living standards.

"Tomorrow I'm meeting EU Prime Ministers and officials in Brussels.

"Mr Speaker this is a national crisis.

"Will the Prime Minister meet me today to discuss our proposals as a way forward to get out of this crisis?"

Mrs May faced jeers as she told MPs Parliament cannot "carry on contemplating its navel on Europe" and "failing to address" the real issues affecting normal people.

"This house has indulged itself on Europe for too long!" she declared – prompting uproar after years of Tory infighting.

The Prime Minister declared she would continue ploughing on with her Brexit deal, asking for another vote by MPs next week despite it being defeated twice.

But "I haven't seen legally binding changes," said Jeremy Corbyn. "What significant changes will there be?"

Labour's leader slammed "months of running down the clock" and a "concerted campaign of bullying, blackmail and bribery".

He told the House of Commons: "Her deal is a damaging national failure and should be rejected.

"They've run out of time. They've run out of ideas."

And calling for a potential second referendum he said: "If the Prime Minister cannot get changes to her deal, will she give the people a chance to reject the deal and change the government?"

The Prime Minister will meet EU leaders tomorrow in Brussels so they can consider the request to delay Brexit.

EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker has suggested no decision will be made this week with a decision only coming next week.

It came after Downing Street sources admitted the Prime Minister would not ask the EU for a long Brexit delay following a Tory row.

The embattled PM was expected to ask only for a few months of extra time beyond March 29 after fury at her plans in Cabinet.

Her hopes of asking for a year or so's delay to frighten Brexiteer MPs into finally backing her deal backfired.

Last week she claimed "there will need to be a much longer extension" if MPs did not back a deal in the days before next Friday.

Yet ministers rounded on any prospect of a long delay yesterday in a stormy, 90-minute Brexit session of the Cabinet.

Brexiteer MP Peter Bone told Mrs May at PMQs today: "If you apply for an extension to Article 50 you will be betraying the British people.

"History will judge you at this moment."

Yet SNP MP Pete Wishart accused the Prime Minister of "cravenly caving in" to hard Brexiteers.

"The Prime Minister's deal lies in tatters, her cabinet is in open revolt, she presides over the biggest constitutional crisis this country has experienced," Mr Wishart said.

Branding her "weak, weak, weak", he stormed: "When will she develop a backbone and stand up to those who would take this nation to disaster?"

And ex-Chancellor Ken Clarke, a Tory, said an extension lasting just three months would be "completely useless".

Theresa May's letter to EU chief Donald Tusk in full

Dear Donald

The UK Government's policy remains to leave the European Union in an orderly manner on the basis of the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration agreed in November, complemented by the Joint Instrument and supplement to the Political Declaration President Juncker and I agreed on 11 March.

You will be aware that before the House of Commons rejected the deal for a second time on 12 March, I warned in a speech in Grimsby that the consequences of failing to endorse the deal were unpredictable and potentially deeply unpalatable.

The House of Commons did not vote in favour of the deal.

The following day it voted against leaving the EU without a negotiated deal.

The day after that it supported a Government motion that proposed a short extension to the Article 50 period if the House supported a meaningful vote before this week's European Council.

The motion also made clear that if this had not happened, a longer extension would oblige the UK to call elections to the European Parliament.

I do not believe that it would be in either of our interests for the UK to hold European Parliament elections.

I had intended to bring the vote back to the House of Commons this week. The Speaker of the House of Commons said on Monday that in order for a further meaningful vote to be brought back to the House of Commons, the agreement would have to be “fundamentally different not different in terms of wording, but different in terms of substance".

Some Members of Parliament have interpreted that this means a further change to the deal.

This position has made it impossible in practice to call a further vote in advance of the European Council.

However, it remains my intention to bring the deal back to the House.

In advance of that vote, I would be grateful if the European Council could therefore approve the supplementary documents that President Juncker and I agreed in Strasbourg, putting the Government in a position to bring these agreements to the House and confirming the changes to the Government's proposition to Parliament.

I also intend to bring forward further domestic proposals that confirm my previous commitments to protect our internal market, given the concerns expressed about the backstop.

On this basis, and in the light of the outcome of the European Council, I intend to put forward a motion as soon as possible under section 13 of the Withdrawal Act 2018 and make the argument for the orderly withdrawal and strong future partnership the UK economy, its citizens' security and the continent's future, demands.

If the motion is passed, I am confident that Parliament will proceed to ratify the deal constructively.

But this will clearly not be completed before 29 March 2019.

In our legal system, the Government will need to take a Bill through both Houses of Parliament to enact our commitments under the Withdrawal Agreement into domestic law.

While we will consult with the Opposition in the usual way to plan the passage of the Bill as quickly and smoothly as possible, the timetable for this is inevitably uncertain at this stage.

I am therefore writing to inform the European Council that the UK is seeking an extension to the Article 50 period under Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union, including as applied by Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty, until 30 June 2019.

I would be grateful for the opportunity to set out this position to our colleagues on Thursday.

Yours ever,

Theresa May

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