May outlines five tests for UK’s Brexit negotiations
PM to set out five tests for negotiations
THERESA MAY will today set out the five key tests that will guide her during Brexit negotiations in a landmark speech on the UK’s future relationship with the European Union.
The Prime Minister is expected to set out her vision for an “ambitious economic partnership” during an address at Mansion House in London.
In her speech she will say she wants the broadest and deepest possible agreement, covering more sectors and co-operating more fully than any other free trade agreement in the world today.
But she remained under pressure at home and abroad, with former PM Tony Blair calling on EU leaders to work together to stop Brexit.
And the EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said British politicians must abandon the notion that they can avoid the hard choices resulting from Brexit.
THERESA MAY has been given a stark warning that her Brexit red lines will inevitably cause friction in trade between the UK and EU.
The Prime Minister yesterday chaired a meeting of the Cabinet to approve her Brexit plans and met European Council president Donald Tusk for talks in Downing Street ahead of a keynote address today on the UK’s future relationship with the EU.
In her speech at Mansion House in central London, Mrs May will set out five tests which will guide her in the UK’s negotiations, as part of efforts to achieve what she describes as an “ambitious future economic partnership”.
These include respecting the result of the 2016 referendum and reaching an agreement between the UK and EU that endures, so both can “forge ahead with building a better future for our people”.
She will also promise to judge the negotiations on whether they protect jobs and security and are “consistent with the kind of country we want to be as we leave: a modern, open, outward-looking, tolerant, European democracy”.
The final test she will describe is that the deal “must bring our country back together, taking into account the views of everyone who cares about this issue, from both sides of the debate”.
The PM will spell out her vision of a country that is a “champion of free trade based on high standards” and thriving in the world by “building a bold and comprehensive economic partnership with our neighbours in the EU, and reaching out beyond to foster trade agreements with nations across the globe”.
Ahead of the speech, Mr Tusk hit out at the Prime Minister’s “red lines” and defended the EU’s position in the row over the Irish border.
But he acknowledged that Mrs May’s position – that the UK will leave the single market and customs union – did mean that “substantive negotiations” could take place.
Mr Tusk used a speech in Brussels to pour cold water on Mrs May’s hopes of achieving a Brexit deal which will allow trade to be “as frictionless as possible”.
Mr Tusk warned: “There can be no frictionless trade outside of the customs union and the single market. Friction is an inevitable side-effect of Brexit by nature.”
He also defended a draft legal text of the withdrawal agreement produced by the European Commission, which has been met by an angry response by Mrs May.
The Prime Minister strongly rejected parts of the text regarding the post-Brexit status of Northern Ireland, which she said would “threaten the constitutional integrity of the UK” by creating a border down the Irish Sea.
Mr Tusk said he was “absolutely sure that all the essential elements of the draft” would be accepted by the 27 remaining EU members and stressed that the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, had the support of the bloc’s leaders.
He said the UK Government’s decision to rule out membership of the single market and customs union had been acknowledged “without enthusiasm and without satisfaction”.
“One of the possible negative consequences of this kind of Brexit is a hard border on the island of Ireland,” Mr Tusk said. “The EU wants to prevent this scenario and, if no other solution is found, the proposal (is) to establish a common regulatory area comprising the Union and the UK in respect of Northern Ireland.”
He said he wanted to know if the UK Government had a better idea that would be “as effective in preventing a hard border”.
At their meeting in Number 10, Mr Tusk said “I’m not happy” with the Government’s red lines, but told Mrs May: “After your decision on no customs union and no single market, it’s some kind of breakthrough and we can start our substantive negotiations immediately.”
At a special meeting of Cabinet in 10 Downing Street, Ministers were given 30 minutes to read the latest draft of Mrs May’s speech before a two-hour discussion.
They were given the speech in paper form and required to leave the texts behind when they left.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Cabinet Ministers held a detailed and positive discussion.”