A no-deal Brexit happens in 10 days and no one knows if the EU will stop it

On Thursday, Theresa May travels to Brussels to meet with the remaining 27 EU leaders, where she is expected to request an extension to Article 50, the legal process by which Britain is leaving the EU. If the EU27 agree, as they probably will, Brexit will be delayed beyond the current deadline of March 29. Leaving aside the gravity of this epic failure of British Brexit policy, the key question is how long will the delay last?

There are two likely options. The first is a short delay, which Downing Street said on Wednesday it would request. This would give the UK government a little more time to get its Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament, perhaps sweetened with some changes to the accompanying political declaration.