Brexit deal proves critics wrong — May

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May has hit back at critics of her handling of Brexit, writing in the Sunday Telegraph that she had “proven the doubters wrong” after securing an interim deal.

Pressure lifted on the embattled leader after she struck a deal with the European Union over Britain’s divorce terms last Friday, enabling talks to turn to the country’s future trading relationship after months of fraught negotiations.

“We have proven the doubters wrong and are making progress towards a successful exit from the European Union ( EU),” she wrote in the centre-right broadsheet, calling the agreement ‘a watershed’ in negotiations.

“Amid all the noise, we are getting on with the job,” she added. “We will not be derailed from this fundamental duty to deliver the democratic will of the British people.”

The prime minister said it was important to work out the exact terms of an implementation period, designed to soften the effects of Brexit after the March 2019 leave date, “as soon as possible ...to provide invaluable certainty for employers.”

She also played down fears of Brexit voters that Britain would end up being bound by EU rules, insisting that the country would regain “control of our borders, and set our own laws”.

However, prominent Brexit campaigners in her own cabinet appeared concerned that Britain would be restricted by EU rules during the transition period, which is expected to last for around two years.