May will urge European leaders to change the Brexit deal.

247, with Reuters - British Prime Minister Theresa May intends to speak with each leader of the European Union (EU) and the head of the European Commission to seek changes to her EU withdrawal agreement, days after another defeat for her party in the British Parliament and as businesses prepare for a no-deal Brexit on March 29.

In her talks with EU leaders and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, she will try to change the Irish barrier, one of the most contentious parts of the withdrawal agreement she agreed to in November, her office said.

May told EU leaders that she could approve her deal with concessions, mainly around the Irish position – a guarantee that there would be no return to border controls between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

But a defeat in a symbolic vote in Parliament on Thursday (14) weakened his promise and increased the risk of a "no-deal" Brexit within 40 days.

The issue surrounding Ireland has become one of the main points of contention ahead of the UK's planned departure from the EU next month, after 45 years.

In a letter to her Conservative MPs, who are divided on the issue, May asked them to set aside "personal preferences" and unite in the country's interest by supporting an agreement.

"Our party can do what it has so often done in the past: move beyond what divides us and unite in what binds us; sacrifice, if necessary, our own personal preferences in favor of the highest national interest," she wrote.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said on Sunday that changes need to be made, but that this does not necessarily mean the agreement needs to be reopened.

"I don't think it's the mechanism that matters, it's the objective," he told the BBC.

On Monday (18), Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay will meet with the European Union's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and on Tuesday, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox will give a speech explaining what changes would be needed to eliminate the legal risk of British discussions on the Northern Ireland issue dragging on indefinitely.

May's cabinet has not given a date for negotiations with Juncker.

Unless May manages to get a Brexit deal approved by the British parliament, she will have to decide whether to postpone Brexit or plunge the world's fifth-largest economy into chaos by leaving the EU without a deal at the end of March.

With the clock ticking, companies said they had no alternative but to start approving emergency measures to deal with a no-deal scenario from the EU, KPMG said on Sunday.

"Companies are now testing airbags in their preparations for Brexit," said James Stewart, head of Brexit at KPMG UK.

"Time is a luxury we no longer have, so people are preparing for the possible immediate impacts."

Airbus, which designs and manufactures wings for its aircraft in the UK, said on Sunday that a "no-deal" Brexit would be "absolutely catastrophic".

"There is no such thing as a manageable no-deal exit; it is absolutely catastrophic for us," Airbus Senior Vice President Katherine Bennett told the BBC.

"Some difficult decisions will have to be made if there is no agreement (...) we will have to evaluate our future investments."