Labour has been granted an immediate three-hour emergency debate over Brexit .

The debate – 9 days before the UK is scheduled to leave – was requested after Theresa May rowed back on plans to delay Brexit.

The Prime Minister today formally asked the EU for a delay of just three months, and insisted she would not delay beyond June 30.

Yet she refused to make a full statement on the matter, despite her request being a clear U-turn on her own threat to make any extension much longer following a Tory revolt.

Today's debate was not expected to have any legal effect.

But MPs were expected to use it to demand answers and push for "indicative votes", starting next week, to allow them to take control of the Brexit process.

Labour's Brexit chief Sir Keir Starmer was granted the debate under the Commons' rarely-used Standing Order 24 – a convention that allows urgent debates on a specific important meeting.

He complained Mrs May had not made a full statement on her decision to the House of Commons.

Speaker John Bercow made the rare decision to grant the debate immediately.

Opening the debate, Sir Keir branded Mrs May a "roadblock to progress" and called for her to act "in the national interest" and flesh out her plans to delay Brexit.

It came after Theresa May dramatically threatened to quit rather than see a long delay to Brexit.

The Prime Minister was drowned out by shouts of "resign" as she repeated three times at a stormy PMQs that: “As Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than 30 June.”

Her spokesman later refused four times to say whether she would stand down if the EU demanded a long delay at a crucial Brussels summit tomorrow.

Mrs May today formally asked EU leaders for a short extension after a mutiny by Leave-supporting Cabinet ministers and MPs threatened her premiership.

She wrote to European Council chief Donald Tusk to beg for an extension to the end of June.

Mrs May had previously said she would ask for a longer extension, meaning the UK would have to take part in EU elections, if her deal had not passed by today.

But she caved into furious Brexiteer ministers who threatened to walk out of her Government if she refused to back down.

Opposition party leaders including Jeremy Corbyn were invited to No 10 for talks at 6pm.

Cabinet ministers were seen filing en masse out of Downing Street mid-afternoon.

And there were rumours the PM would address the nation in a speech later.

At PMQs, she told MPs: "I'm opposed to a long extension. I don't want a long extension.

"The outcome would be endless hours and days of this House carrying on contemplating its navel on Europe and failing to address the issues that matter to our constituents."

But within minutes the EU had slapped down the PM's request for a three-month extension.

The European Commission said the delay should either be several weeks shorter, to avoid a clash with European elections in May, or extend at least until the end of the year.

Mrs May plans a third vote on her already twice-defeated deal next week, before giving MPs the chance to have their say on the future direction of Brexit.

It comes just six days after her de facto deputy, David Lidington, warned that such an extension would be "downright reckless" and would make crashing out of the EU without a deal "far more rather than less likely".

The minister also claimed the EU would not accept such a proposal.

Labour confirmed it would not be seeking a longer extension when Jeremy Corbyn travels to Brussels tomorrow.

The party believes three months is enough for MPs to agree to its alternative plans.

The humiliating U-turn on the eve of the crunch Brussels summit leaves the PM’s plan to pressurise hardline Tory Brexiteers into backing her deal during a final Commons showdown next week in tatters.

Critics suggested they would simply sit tight and wait for the new June 30 cliff edge.

No 10 refused to say whether the three-month extension had been approved by Parliament.

Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom demanded a delay of no more than two months – and didn't rule out quitting if the PM asked for more.

But top EU official Jean-Claude Juncker warned that the 27 other leaders may not reach a decision on the delay at this week's summit, raising the prospect of a further meeting next week.

"Mrs May doesn’t have agreement to anything, either in her cabinet or in Parliament,” he told German radio.

In a phone call with the PM this afternoon, he warned her not to put an exit date on her request – advice she ignored.

France has warned they will not accept a delay to Brexit unless she can offer a way out of the Brexit deadlock.

A spokesman for French President Emmanuel Macron said the PM needs to provide clear reasons for an extension and any delay cannot be automatically guaranteed.

The PM's request has to be approved by all 27 other EU states.

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