EU leaders discuss UK without May
● PM shrugs off warnings that negotiations could take a decade
Prime Minister Theresa May insisted European Union leaders were right to meet without her after she left a Brussels summit early last night while the heads of 27 EU governments gathered to discuss Brexit over dinner.
It is the first time Britain has not been involved in the traditional end-of-summit meal.
Ms May said: “As we are going to invoke Article 50, trigger the negotiations, by the end of March next year, it’s right that the other leaders prepare for those negotiations as we have been preparing.”
EU leaders were expected to give the European Commission the leading role in talks with the UK, which could undermine attempts by the UK to form alliances with friendly member states.
The Prime Minister was warned during the summit by senior figures in the European Parliament to expect “complexities and difficulties” in talks ahead, but she brushed off claims by the UK’S ambassador to the EU that negotiat- ing Britain’s exit and a subsequent trade deal could take a decade.
Sir Ivan Rogers warned a post-brexit free trade agreement could take a decade to finalise and even then may fail to be ratified by EU member states.
Downing Street insisted it was possible to agree a “divorce deal” and a new trade deal within the two-year formal exit process under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, despite EU leaders insisting trade talks cannot begin until after Brexit. Former Cabinet secretary Lord O’donnell echoed Sir Ivan’s warning, saying he expected it to take “at least five years” to complete a deal on the UK’S new relationship with the EU and that there was “not a chance” of it being done in two years. Former EU trade commissioner Lord Mandelson also told a committee of MPS yesterday that a five- to ten-year timescale was “realistic”. Meanwhile, a House of Lords committee report warned the UK will be less safe after Brexit without “mission critical” EU security arrangements.
Peers said participation in the European Arrest Warrant, European law enforcement agency Europol, and a network of pan-european databases and alert systems were “integral” to UK policing, and that leaving them would deliver an “abrupt shock” to law enforcement and pose a risk to public safety.
Policing minister Brandon Lewis said European law enforcement co-operation “remained a priority”.