UK will wait to have its say
British Prime Minister Theresa May (above) has ruled out an early general election. She said the country would not return to the polls until 2020.
BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled out an early general election and says she will not wait for Germany’s poll in September next year before beginning the formal process of leaving the European Union.
Ms May, who inherited the top job from David Cameron earlier this year, said going to the people early would cause “instability” — which means the country will not return to the polls until 2020.
She has been under pressure from EU officials, investors and members of her ruling Conservative Party to offer more detail on her plan for Britain’s exit beyond her vague and repeated catchphrase “Brexit means Brexit”.
Speaking on the first day of her party’s annual conference yesterday, Ms May was focused on putting some of the criticism to rest by pledging to overturn the 1972 European Communities Act, the law allowing the accession of Britain to the European Economic Community, which later became the European Union.
“We will introduce, in the next Queen’s speech, a Great Repeal Bill that will remove the European Communities Act from the statute book,” she said.
Overturning the act will take legal effect once Britain formally leaves the European Union.
“This marks the first stage in the UK becoming a sovereign and independent country once again,” Ms May said.
“It will return power and authority to the elected institutions of our country.
“It means that the authority of EU law in Britain will end.”
The British leader is expected to trigger Article 50 to start formal departure, which can take up to two years to negotiate, early next year.
However, she has been clear she does not want to give her hand away before the talks.
Separately, her Brexit minister David Davis said in a statement that EU law would be transposed into British law on the day Britain formally left the European Union.
Laws that were then deemed unnecessary would be repealed by parliament subsequently.