May gathers ministers ahead of Brexit speech

LONDON: British ministers put on a show of unity as they met on the eve of Prime Minister Theresa May’s major speech on Brexit, which has been overshadowed by Cabinet divisions.

May is hoping that her speech in Florence today will break the deadlock in negotiations with the European Union before talks resume next week.

But the run-up to the event has been dominated by an intervention by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who last week laid out his own vision for life outside the EU.

In making the case for a clean break with the bloc, he was accused of trying to tie the hands of May, whose hold on power remains fragile since losing her parliamentary majority in the June election.

The prime minister flew home with Johnson overnight from New York, where they had attended the United Nations General Assembly, before chairing a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street yesterday.

After two-and-a-half hours of discussion, Johnson walked out next to finance minister Philip Hammond, who has advocated closer ties with the EU. Both men were smiling.

Six months after May began the two-year countdown to Britain’s withdrawal, EU leaders are still waiting for details on what she wants from the divorce.

Johnson’s move only highlighted the lack of clarity. He subsequently denied rumours he might resign, and insisted the Cabinet was as unified as a “nest of singing birds”.

A fourth round of talks with the European Commission is due to start next week, and London is keen to make progress so that the negotiations can move on to the question of trade.

Brussels is hoping May will break the logjam with an offer on Britain’s financial settlement, one of the most contentious issues.

The Financial Times reported that she would offer to meet Britain’s contributions until the end of the EU’s current budget period in 2020 – after Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019.

Nick Timothy, one of May’s closest advisers before he quit in June, said she needed to offer a “serious plan to cut through the complexity”.

In an article in the Daily Telegraph, he warned that warring ministers must “stop their games now because the stakes for Britain’s future are too high”. — AFP