UPDATE 1-Brexit delay will not solve the impasse over deal, PM May says

Delaying Britain's exit from the European Union does not deliver a deal and merely delays the big decision on Brexit, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday.

"An extension to Article 50, a delay in this process, doesn't deliver a decision in parliament, it doesn't deliver a deal," May said. "What it does is precisely what the word 'delay' says. It just delays the point at which you come to that decision. And I think that any extension of Article 50, in that sense, isn't addressing the issue. We have it within our grasp."

She added: "Any delay is a delay, it doesn't address the issue, it doesn't resolve the issue." Speaking about talks with EU leaders, May said:

"What I have sensed in all of my conversations with my fellow leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh, and in recent days, is a real determination to find a way through, which allows the UK to leave the EU in a smooth and orderly way with a deal." (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)