Top EU official: MPs could still approve May’s deal in vote next month

The likelihood of Britain abandoning Brexit altogether and staying in the European Union has increased slightly in recent months, but there is no public support for a second referendum, one of the bloc’s top officials has said.

European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told the Funke Media Group that there is still a chance MPs will vote for Prime Minister Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement in January.

The vote was originally scheduled for earlier this month, but the prime minister abandoned the plans after she could not muster enough support in parliament.

The vote has now been scheduled for the week starting 14 January, ahead of the UK’s exit from the EU on 29 March next year.

“It is not entirely unlikely that the British parliament will vote for the divorce agreement in January,” Oettinger said in an interview. “There is certainly no majority for a disorderly Brexit or for a new referendum.”

Oettinger, who is responsible for the EU’s budgets, said that although the likelihood of Britain remaining in the EU had increased, “I assume that it will come to an exit at the end of March.”

Earlier this month it was revealed that Brits travelling to the EU would not have to get a visa, but could be forced to pay €7 (£6.32) every three years to enter the bloc.

Today Britain’s top police officer told the BBC’s Today programme that a no deal Brexit could threaten the UK’s ability to extradite people from abroad.

Met Commissioner Cressida Dick said leaving the EU without a deal in place would also make it harder to access European criminal databases.

“We will have to replace some of the things we currently use in terms of access to databases, the way in which we can quickly arrest and extradite people, these kinds of things, we'll have to replace as effectively as we can.

“That will be more costly, undoubtedly, slower, undoubtedly and, potentially, yes, put the public at risk,” she said.