EU leaders agreed on Thursday to delay Brexit until the end of October, with a review in June, diplomatic sources told Reuters.

Most of the 27 European leaders had gathered in Brussels for Brexit crisis talks, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, backed a plan for Brexit to be postponed for up to a year.

After UK PM Theresa May made her case for an extension until June 30, she left the other 27 EU leaders to ponder Britain's fate over a three-course dinner at the EU Council headquarters.

Without a postponement, Britain was due to end its 46-year membership of the European Union at midnight (2200 GMT) on Friday with no deal, risking economic chaos on both sides of the Channel.

May agreed a divorce deal with the EU last November but MPs in London have rejected it three times, forcing her to turn to the main opposition Labour party in a bid to find a way through.