EU official hopes Brexit delay to be approved by Oct 30

An anti-Brexit protester waves an EU flag outside the Houses of Parliament in London. (Reuters Photo)

A formal decision on the three-month delay of Britain's exit from the EU to January 31 will hopefully be made on Tuesday or Wednesday, a senior EU official said after envoys of the 27 other member states agreed to grant a flexible extension.

Wednesday is the day before, Oct. 31, the current deadline for Britain divorce from the European Union.

The EU27 will wait for Britain's reply to its offer of a delay before launching a "written procedure", whereby governments will have 24 hours to accept or reject the agreement reached by their envoys to Brussels on Monday.

"The formal flextension decision is made upon the positive conclusion of the written procedure. We hope this to be concluded by Tuesday or Wednesday," the official said.