We are now ending our live coverage for tonight.

It's been a big night for Brexit.

After five hours of talks about whether to accept Theresa May's request to extend Brexit, EU leaders agreed to offer the UK a six month postponement until 31 October.

Theresa May has accepted the offer - adding that the UK can leave earlier if a deal is passed by Parliament. And if a deal is passed by 31 May, then the UK will not have to take part in European elections, she adds.

Read our full story here.

Theresa May is giving a press conference in Brussels.

She emphasised that although the delay extends until 31 October, the UK can leave as soon as a withdrawal deal is passed by MPs. That was a "key request" of hers, she said.

And Mrs May said if the Brexit deal is passed by 31 May then the UK won't have to take part in European elections.

"I know that there is huge frustration from many people that I had to request this extension," she said.

"The UK should have left the EU by now and I sincerely regret the fact that I have not yet been able to persuade Parliament to approve a deal which would allow the UK to leave in a smooth and orderly way.

"The choices we now face are stark and the timetable is clear. We must now press on at pace with our efforts to reach a consensus on a deal that is in the national interest."

The PM is set to make a statement to the House of Commons later on Thursday. And talks between the government and opposition will continue.

"I do not pretend the next few weeks will be easy, or there is a simple way to break the deadlock in Parliament but we have a duty as politicians to find a way to fulfill the democratic decision of the referendum, deliver Brexit, and move our country forward.

"Nothing is more pressing or more vital."

Provoking laughs, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker jokes that the deadline coincides with him also leaving his role.

"I like the decision we have taken because the end date has been set on the 31 October. I have to leave my job on 1 November this year.

"So my guess would be we will not have a night session, because if we had, I would have to leave the meeting at midnight."

Asked what he thinks about the length of the delay, Donald Tusk says six months "could be enough for a good solution if there's goodwill and a majority for such solutions in the House of Commons".

He says the EU is "maybe not happy, but satisfied" by tonight's agreement.

"Our intention is to finalise this whole process in October. Our wish and our hope is that the UK will be ready with the final solution."

The UK will be treated as a full member state and will retain all of its rights during the delay, Donald Tusk says.

The "course of action will be entirely in the UK's hands", he adds.

European Council President Donald Tusk has given a press conference - confirming that the EU and UK have agreed a "flexible extension" to Brexit of six months until 31 October.

He says that during this time, the UK can still sign off Theresa May's Brexit deal and then leave earlier.

The UK is allowed to change the political declaration but not the withdrawal agreement, he said. He added that it is was still possible to cancel Brexit.

He ended with a message to the UK: "This extension is as flexible as I expected and a little bit shorter than I expected but it's still enough to find a best possible solution. Please do not waste this time."

Lots of fun is set to be had with the new 31 October Brexit deadline.

The BBC's political editor tweets:

Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark Neil Coyle tweets:

And SNP MSP Keith Brown tweets:

Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror's associate editor Kevin Maguire adds:

And from the Huffington Post UK's senior editor:

Now the UK has agreed to the EU's offer of a six month delay to Brexit, it means Britain will not be leaving this Friday.

31 October is now the third Brexit date which has been scheduled - after the original 29 March and then 12 April.

BBC Scotland's chief political correspondent tweets:

BBC News Channel

The BBC's Europe editor, Katya Adler, was asked how the EU leaders - who disagreed over how long the Brexit delay should be - reached a compromise tonight.

She said: "I'm saying one word to you: fudge.

"And aren't EU summits famous for it. We had Emmanuel Macron sounding tough and saying I'm not going beyond 30 June, knowing full well that we, the press, would be talking all about that outside.

"And that's what he would like. He wants to send this message back home that he was tough in defending Europe, he doesn't like the idea of a longer extension, he worries about the prime minister who might follow Theresa May as somebody who might try and obstruct the workings of the EU. And so he has many reasons why he wanted to take that particular position and be seen to be taking it.

"The other leaders, the majority of them were in favour of a longer extension - six to 12 months.

She added: "For those in that room like Donald Tusk and Angela Merkel who have seen history, who have waited long times for history to change - him in Poland, her in East Germany - they wanted to give the UK proper time if the UK wanted to rethink its decision about leaving the EU."

BBC News Channel

BBC News correspondent Chris Morris says there is "a bit of anger with the French for sort of spoiling the party" in Brussels.

"I think there was a majority clearly there for a longer extension than this.

"One word I heard used was French intransigence that forced them into what many people see as a rather unsatisfactory compromise.

"Now you might say that's classic EU summit fudge, it's neither short nor long really."

The EU is reportedly offering a delay until 31 October, with a review in June.

Asked what the point is of a June review, Chris Morris said: "Well potentially nothing actually".

Our correspondent says the wording needs to be looked at once the delay is announced because if the June date is just a review, then all 28 EU countries would have to take part in a decision to bring something to an end.

BBC News Channel

Mairead McGuinness, an Irish MEP and vice-president of the European Parliament, said: "I think the leaders would have been focusing on what was best for the European Union.

"Clearly the Prime Minister has her own concerns and she brought those, I'm sure, to the table.

"I daresay there was a lot of focus on what she said about the talks with the Labour Party."

She added: "The end of June deadline (for a review) should focus minds in the House of Commons, because ideally we would like to see some endgame here, some certainty.

"We (in Europe) do need to move away from Brexit talk, because it's morning, noon and night.

"Now it is a big issue, it's got to be dealt with, but we've got other things that are equally serious and that need to be dealt with."

BBC News Channel

Paddy Smyth, Brussels correspondent at the Irish Times, said there was a disagreement between France and Germany over the length of the delay.

"It was resolved by concessions to the French, Macron won... and got the date of October 31st," he said.

"I think he also appears to have got - although this is more muted - conditions on behaviour by the British while they're still members."

Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tweets...

BBC News Channel

Theresa May is holding a bilateral meeting with Donald Tusk right now - as we don't know if she will accept the extension although we presume that she will, says the BBC's Christian Fraser.

The conditions which come with the delay also need to be worked out, he added.

Image source, AFP

Read the full story, as European Council President Donald Tusk says a delay has been agreed, but does not confirm the date.

The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg shares a tweet from the Daily Telegraph's Europe editor, Peter Foster.

If the delay to 31 October is confirmed, the new date will be just after party conference season in the UK, the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg tweets.

She adds: