May: It is EU’S duty to agree a Brexit deal
PM to lay out ‘bold new economic and secuity partnership’ in crucial speech
Gordon Rayner Political Editor
Peter Foster Europe Editor THERESA MAY will today tell European Union leaders that they share a “profound sense of responsibility” to forge a Brexit deal for the benefit of those who “inherit the world we leave them”.
The Prime Minister will use a speech in Florence to tell European negotiators and heads of state that “the eyes of the world are upon us” and that they must use imagination to make a success of “this chapter of our European history”.
Employing positive rhetoric that evokes Boris Johnson’s intervention in The Daily Telegraph last week, Mrs May will insist that “the future is bright” as she sets out her vision of Britain’s postbrexit relationship with Europe.
Downing Street said the speech – her most significant on Brexit since January – would include a blueprint for a “bold new economic and security partnership” and set out plans for a timelimited implementation period, offering “certainty and clarity to businesses and citizens”.
The speech will contain no concrete offer on the Brexit bill, only an initial promise that Britain will continue to pay into EU funds during a two-year transition period – a sum likely to be around £20billion.
Although EU negotiators will continue to demand more, Mrs May will reassure them that no EU member state will have to pay more to Brussels before 2020 as a result of Brexit.
Downing Street said the Florence speech would build on the vision Mrs May set out at Lancaster House in London in January, detailing a bright future for both the UK and the EU.
She is expected to say that if they can make a success of Brexit, “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; not for the challenges we endured but for the creativity we used to overcome them; not for a relationship that ended but a new partnership that began. While the UK’S departure from the EU is inevitably a difficult process, it is in all of our interests for our negotiations to succeed… so I believe we share a profound sense of responsibility to make this change work smoothly and sensibly, not just
for people today but for the next generation”. Mrs May will also highlight Britain’s strengths such as its legal system, openness to investment, ease of doing business and its universities and research.
Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator, used a speech in Rome yesterday to pile pressure on Mrs May, saying that “settling accounts” with the EU – in other words agreeing the so-called “divorce bill” – is the only way to “build trust” as Brexit talks continue.
Mr Barnier also said there was “only one year left” to seal a deal, adding: “I’m wondering why – beyond the progress we’ve made on certain points – there is still today major uncertainty on each of the key issues of the first phase.”
However, he struck a note of optimism by quoting the Florentine politician Niccolò Machiavelli – one of history’s great plotters – by using the phrase: “Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.”
Meanwhile in Ireland Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, criticised Boris Johnson over comments he made in his Telegraph essay on Brexit last Saturday, calling him “old-fashioned”.
The Telegraph understands that Mrs May is unlikely to repeat her claim that “no deal is better than a bad deal” as she accepts the phrase has been counterproductive. The Cabinet is yet to agree on the exact length of the transition period.