May wants clean EU break
• Prime minister promises to control immigration from Europe and acknowledges this means loss of single market
Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday that Britain would leave the EU’s single market in order to restrict immigration in a clean break from the bloc, but MPs could vote on the final deal.
“Brexit must mean control of the number of people coming from Europe, and that is what we will deliver. What I am proposing cannot mean membership of the single market,” May said during a highly anticipated speech at London’s Lancaster House.
She said Britain would seek a trade deal giving “the greatest possible access” to the market on its departure. The prime minister also announced that any divorce deal with the remaining EU members must be approved by votes in both chambers of Britain’s parliament.
Britain has two years to negotiate a break-up deal once May triggers article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, officially declaring the country’s intention to leave, or face leaving with no agreement. May has promised to trigger article 50 by the end of March and said that she believed a final settlement and trade deal could be simultaneously negotiated within the time frame.
Foreign partners doubt such a timetable, with Austrian Foreign Minister Hans Joerg Schelling saying Brexit would take five years. “It is not clear if it will be possible to negotiate the UK’s exit from the EU and the terms of a future co-operation at the same time,” he said.
Seeking to calm fears of a sudden jolt to the economy on abruptly leaving the EU, May said she would seek a “phased process of implementation”.
Her direction will be cheered by those who want to leave the EU, but dismay those who fear the effect on the economy.
EU countries accounted for 44% of Britain’s total exports in goods and services in 2015, with the country recording a £68.6bn trade deficit with the bloc.
The pound has endured a rocky ride since the vote in June 2016 to leave the union, but it responded strongly to May’s speech, wiping out losses earlier in the week to stand at $1.2252.
Finance Minister Philip Hammond adopted a tough line on Sunday, warning that Britain might undercut the EU economically to remain competitive if it faced EU tariffs.
Hammond said he wanted Britain to still be a “recognisably European-style economy with European-style taxation systems, European-style regulation systems”. However, London would have to change course “if we are forced”, to “regain competitiveness”, he told Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
Britain’s post-EU prospects were given a verbal boost on Sunday by US president-elect Donald Trump, who made it clear that he favoured a quick trade deal with the UK.
But a fast-track bilateral deal with Washington will be difficult in practical terms. Under EU rules, Britain cannot sign trade deals with third-party states until it is formally outside the bloc, a position that does not change despite voting to leave.
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has said there should be an agreement in place ahead of the European Parliament elections in 2019.
But even if the prime minister’s plan outlined on Tuesday wins widespread support, legal challenges could still scupper her Brexit timetable.
Britain’s Supreme Court is due to rule later in January on whether May must seek parliamentary approval before triggering article 50, which could delay the start of the Brexit negotiations.