National Post (National Edition)
Britain will begin to withdraw from EU by March, PM says.
British PM’s announcement eases anxieties
LONDON • British Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday her country would begin the process of withdrawing from the European Union by the end of March.
The announcement eased the anxieties of Brexit backers who had feared May might delay the start of the country’s withdrawal by a year or more. It disheartened Europhiles who had hoped that the country’s exit might somehow be avoided.
May’s comments Sunday morning to the BBC were the most specific she has given to date on the timetable for leaving the European Union, following a June referendum in which the public voted 52 per cent to 48 to jettison the bloc. Previously she had said only that the country would not trigger Article 50, the neverbefore-used mechanism for an EU exit, any time this year.
The early-2017 timetable is roughly in line with what European leaders who have met with May have said they expected.
But some British advocates for sticking with the European Union have suggested that the process should be put on hold until after France and Germany — the two most important European voices in the negotiations to come — have held national elections slated for next year.
Even after Britain triggers Article 50, it will remain an EU member for some time. The rules calls for a two-year negotiation on the withdrawal terms, although that time limit could be extended if all sides agree. If Britain does leave two years after triggering Article 50, a departure in spring 2019 could allow May to claim victory on her oft-repeated pledge that “Brexit means Brexit” with a year to go before scheduled British national elections.
May has still not detailed what she wants to achieve in the Brexit talks. But members of her government have increasingly hinted that the country will push for a “hard Brexit” that would allow the country to control immigration from the European Union, even if that means giving up membership of the European common market.
Immigration was one of the biggest drivers of the June Brexit vote, and May suggested Sunday that she will honour the public’s concern about the issue.
“This is about delivering for the British people, and this is not just about leaving the EU,” she told BBC interviewer Andrew Marr. “It’s about that essential question of the trust people have in their politicians. The people have spoken; we will deliver on that.”
Leading Brexit advocates cheered May’s timetable announcement. Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, a longtime Brexit proponent, welcomed the news, and told Sky News he hoped it would signal that Britain was moving “quickly to the exit door and out.”
But those who had backed “remain” in the referendum took the prime minister’s words as further indication that Brexit is unavoidable.
Anna Soubry, a former Conservative minister, said triggering Article 50 by next spring is too soon. The timeline “really concerns me, troubles me hugely, because we won’t have had the French elections, we won’t have had the German elections, and I’m sorry, it is going to take a lot of time and effort to disentangle ourselves and get the right deal,” she told Britain’s ITV.
May herself backed the “remain” campaign in the referendum. But after Prime Minister David Cameron resigned, she quickly pivoted and ran to succeed him on a platform of implementing Brexit.
In addition to announcing the timeline, May said Sunday that she would seek repeal of the European Communities Act, the 1972 legislation that automatically enshrines European law into Britain’s own legal code. The repeal will clear the way for Britain’s Parliament to pick and choose which elements of European law it wants to keep once the U.K. has officially abandoned the bloc.