National Post (National Edition)
MAY VOWS CLEAN BREAK WITH EU
LONDON • Britain’s future outside the European Union became much clearer Tuesday: It’s so long to the single market, goodbye to the European Court of Justice and farewell to the freedom of movement for workers.
In a long-awaited speech, Prime Minister Theresa May finally revealed the U.K.’s hand as it prepares to start EU exit talks. She said the U.K. wants to free itself from EU governance and stop paying millions into its coffers, but still remain friends, allies and tariff-free trading partners with the soon-to-be 27-nation bloc.
“We want to buy your goods and services, sell you ours, trade with you as freely as possible, and work with one another to make sure we are all safer, more secure and more prosperous through continued friendship,” May said in a speech to diplomats and dignitaries beneath the gilded paintwork and chandeliers of a Georgian London mansion.
“You will still be welcome in this country as we hope our citizens will be welcome in yours,” she said.
Pro-Brexit British politicians praised the speech, and the pound rallied from recent lows as May provided more details of the path ahead for the split with the EU — and vowed that Britain would remain “a great global trading nation” open to business and talent from around the world.
Others called May’s vision wildly ambitious, like a divorcing couple who hope to remain best friends, share the kids and keep each other’s front door keys.
“This is rather like a divorce rather than ‘friends.’ And then the question is, divorces can be handled very well or very, very badly,” said Tony Travers, director of British government studies at the London School of Economics
He said Britain was hoping that its friends in the EU will say “let’s make it gentle, let’s not — as with a bad divorce — give all the money to the lawyers.”
In her 40-minute address, May said Britain would leave the EU single market of some 500 million people, but “seek the greatest possible access to it through a new, comprehensive, bold and ambitious freetrade agreement.”
She said there would be no attempt to cling to bits of EU membership. Britain will “bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in Britain,” May said. It also will impose controls on the number of people coming to Britain from the EU, abandoning the bloc’s principle of free movement.
May promised for the first time that Britain’s Parliament will be able to vote on the final divorce deal reached between Britain and the EU, likely in 2019. However, she didn’t say what would happen should lawmakers reject the agreement.
The speech received a mixed reaction from the EU, whose leaders largely lament Britain’s decision to leave.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the speech had “created a little bit more clarity about the British plans.”
European Council president Donald Tusk tweeted that it was a “sad process, surrealistic times but at least more realistic announcement” about British intentions on Brexit. He said the 27 other EU nations were “united and ready to negotiate” once Britain formally starts the two-year process of talks by invoking Article 50 of the EU’s key treaty.
In a bid to alleviate fears that Brexit will mean a more insular Britain, May said she wants the country to be “stronger, fairer, more united and more outwardlooking than ever before.”
Britain is quitting the single market in order to gain control over immigration — a key issue for many voters who backed Brexit. EU leaders say Britain can’t stay in the single market without allowing the free movement of people from the bloc into Britain.
May was firm on the immigration question, but softened the message by saying she wants to guarantee the right to remain for EU citizens now in Britain, and for British citizens living elsewhere in the bloc.
May plans to trigger Article 50, the starting gun for talks, by March 31.