May aims to speed up Brexit talks

london — Prime Minister Theresa May is to use a speech in late September to try to force the pace of Brexit negotiations as an October showdown with her European counterparts looms.

She will explain how a raft of British position papers offer a vision of a “deep and special partnership” with the European Union, and make the case for continuous talks with a view to inject urgency into the discussion and tilt the direction toward trade. This much has been said by her team in the lead-up to an address that will unveil her latest thinking on Britain’s exit from the EU. While the idea of a speech has been discussed for weeks, as late as Monday afternoon an official in May’s office said that the timing remained unconfirmed. That was until the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, appeared to give away the date while explaining to lawmakers in Brussels why the next session of talks could be pushed back a week.

“Apparently there will be an important intervention by the British prime minister in the coming days, foreseen on September 21, and then it’s a little bit stupid that there is this mixed with the negotiation round,” Verhofstadt said.

The UK refused to confirm the delay in negotiations and an official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans are still private, said the Belgian politician was wrong on the date. But they said the speech will see May reflect on the UK’s position, eight months after she first set out her Brexit vision.

While May has insisted that nothing has changed in her position since January, both her circumstances and the government’s stance have shifted. She went from being a new leader with a crushing lead in the polls to a weakened prime minister with question-marks over her future.

That’s due to a disastrous campaign for June’s snap election, which among many things amounted to a rejection of the hard Brexit May had embraced with gusto.