Schultz says we have to leave the EU by 2019

The unelected president of the EU Parliament, Martin Schultz, has said that the UK must leave the EU by 2019 so that it's all done and dusted before the next EU elections.

We will leave in 2019 but not because this windbag says so. The next EU elections are due to be held in April or May 2019 and there is no legal basis for excluding the UK from EU elections. The British government won't want to shell out several tens of millions of pounds on a pointless election and more importantly for the pro-EU parties, they won't want the UKIP landslide that is inevitable if Article 50 hasn't been triggered by then.

EU elections are officially declared a month before the poll in the UK and the next elections are due in April or May 2019. Article 50 will need to be triggered in February of March next year to safely avoid the next EU elections. My guess is that Brexit will happen on 31st March making 1st April independence day which also ties in nicely with the new tax year and annual budgets for government departments.