UK will leave EU this month: Senior minister

UK Minister Michael Gove has insisted Britain will still leave the EU by October 31, despite a government letter sent to Brussels asking for a delay.

Boris Johnson sent the letter - unsigned - after a major setback in the Commons to his Brexit strategy.

But the request was accompanied by a second letter, signed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, saying he believed a delay would be a mistake, BBC reports.

Gove told Sky News the government still had "the means and ability" to leave on October 31.

The minister, who as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is in charge of no-deal planning, said "the prime minister's determination is absolute" and the government's "determined policy" was to meet that deadline.

"We know that the EU want us to leave, we know that we have a deal that allows us to leave," he told the Sophy Ridge morning talk show.