PM’S BOLD BID TO END BREXIT DEADLOCK

Upbeat May sets out her plan for cash deal to secure two-year EU goodbye

THERESA May will today warn EU leaders they have a ‘profound responsibility’ to make Brexit work.

Making a ‘generous’ offer to secure a breakthrough in the deadlocked talks, she will propose a two-year transitional deal and pledge to pay up to 20 billion euros (£17.5bn) to ensure no hole is left in the EU’s budget. The Prime Minister, who will not put a precise figure on the size of any ‘divorce bill’, will also set out how the rights of EU citizens living in the UK will be enshrined in the final Brexit treaty so British courts are directly bound by the agreement and there can be no doubt about their future.

Mrs May will tell Europe’s leaders they have a duty to future generations to strike a good deal, saying: ‘The eyes of the world are on us.’ And she

will say that ‘ Britain’s future is bright’ regardless of whether they agree to a trade deal, because of the UK’s ‘considerable’ economic strengths and ‘indomitable spirit’.

In a landmark speech in Florence, Mrs May will urge her EU counterparts to seize the opportunity to ‘ write a new chapter in European history’ together so both sides thrive.

She will confirm Britain is to leave the EU in March 2019, but will set out plans for a ‘phased transition’ of up to two years as the new arrangements are put in place. In a gesture that she hopes to move talks forward, Mrs May will for the first time pledge that Britain will continue to pay into the EU’s coffers during this ‘implementation phase’. This will ensure there is no hole in the bloc’s current seven-year budget, which runs until 2020.

The Prime Minister’s offer will ensure that Eastern European member states will receive no less money from Brussels and others such as Germany will not be forced to pay more into the budget. A precise figure will not be put on the money but it is expected that the payments would be for about £20bn over two years.

Talks in Brussels have ground to a halt over the summer as EU officials have claimed not enough progress has been made on the issues of the divorce bill, citizens’ rights and Northern Ireland for negotiations to move forward to a second phase, including trade talks.

By making substantial new offers on the key issues and striking a more conciliatory tone, Mrs May is hoping EU leaders will agree that negotiations should move forward to the next stage at a crunch summit in a few weeks.

But the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier last night put an immediate dampener on expectations by threatening to walk away from talks if Britain does not ‘settle the accounts’.

It was also reported last night that UK officials have told negotiators they are willing to consider European Court of Justice case law being ‘taken into account’ by British judges when they rule on dis- putes over the rights of EU citizens. Details of Mrs May’s speech, at the ancient basilica Santa Maria Novella, emerged yesterday as:

The Prime Minister united all wings of her Cabinet as she secured their backing for her Brexit vision in a marathon twoand-a-half-hour meeting;

Boris Johnson declared it was ‘gonna be a great speech’ just days after it was feared he could resign;

Mr Barnier sparked anger by suggesting there was effectively only a year left to get a deal done and that Britain was still gripped by ‘major uncertainty’ on key issues.

The Prime Minister’s speech will set out her vision for a ‘bold’ economic and security partnership with a ‘ time-limited’ implementation period to avoid a cliffedge change for businesses adjusting to the new arrangements. But she is thought to have rejected a Swiss-style ‘European Economic Area minus’ deal, which could have involved ongoing payments to Brussels and potentially accepting the free movement of people, and will instead demand a bespoke deal.

In a direct pitch to the continent’s leaders, Mrs May will emphasise the historic nature of the negotiations as she calls for an ‘imaginative and creative’ approach to securing a deal.

The Prime Minister will tell her counterparts that if a deal can be reached ‘then when this chapter of our European history is written, it will be remembered not for the differences we faced, but for the vision we showed’, and ‘not for a relationship that ended but a new partnership that began’.

She will acknowledge that Brexit is ‘inevitably a difficult process’ but it is in ‘all of our interests for our negotiations to succeed’.

The European Council has to decide next month whether sufficient progress has been made during talks so far to start negotiations on a trade deal.

Mrs May will hope that today’s offer is sufficient to end the stalemate.

Donald Trump snubbed Mrs May when she asked him what his plan for Iran was, the US Secretary of State said yesterday.

The President said he had made a decision on the future of the nuclear deal with the country, but would not reveal it to fellow leaders at the United Nations. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that when Mrs May asked Mr Trump what his plan was during a private 30-minute sitdown, he refused to tell her.