Leaving will strengthen the union, May tells Sturgeon
THERESA May will today pledge to use Brexit to strengthen the UK and create a ‘more united nation’.
On a visit to Scotland, Mrs May will hold talks with Nicola Sturgeon in which she will reject the First Minister’s demand for a second independence referendum before Britain leaves the EU.
Ahead of triggering Article 50 on Wednesday, Mrs May will pledge to ‘never allow our Union to become looser and weaker, or our people to drift apart’.
In a speech to civil servants at the Department for International Development in East Kilbride, Mrs May will say: ‘We stand on the threshold of a significant moment for Britain as we begin the negotiations that will lead us towards a new partnership with Europe. And I want to make it absolutely clear as we move through this process that this is not – in any sense – the moment that Britain steps back from the world.
‘Indeed, we are going to take this opportunity to forge a more global Britain.’
Mrs May will also hint that Brexit could mean more powers being passed to the devolved governments.
She will say: ‘A more united nation means working to bring people and communities together by promoting policies which support integration and social cohesion.
‘In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that means fully respecting, and indeed strengthening, the devolution settlements. But never allowing our Union to become looser and weaker, or our people to drift apart.
‘So in those policy areas where the UK Government holds responsibility, I am determined that we will put the interests of the Union – both the parts and the whole – at the heart of our decision-making.’
On Wednesday Mrs May will formally write to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Commission, triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. That means that on or before March 29, 2019 Britain will formally leave the EU.
On Thursday ministers will publish the Great Repeal Bill, which will formally repeal the 1972 European Communities Act and transfer reams of existing EU law on to the domestic statute book.
Two weeks ago Miss Sturgeon demanded the power to hold a referendum between autumn 2018 and spring 2019 – but Mrs May said ‘now is not the time’ for another ‘divisive’ poll. The PM will repeat her stance in talks if Miss Sturgeon raises the issue again, sources said.
Yesterday the Government announced it would use so-called ‘Henry VIII’ powers, which bypass Parliament, to change EU laws as they are repatriated and allow them to be altered or removed after Brexit.
In a report today a think-tank argues Mrs May should not try to stay ‘half-in, halfout’ of the EU customs union and instead pursue a clean break. Open Europe’s Aarti Shankar said: ‘If the UK remained in the customs union after Brexit, it would not be able to meet the Government’s ambition of conducting an independent trade policy and achieving a truly global Britain.’
‘Never allow our people to drift apart