U.K. braces for backlash ahead of Brexit notice

LONDON — Theresa May’s government is increasingly concerned the European Union will seek to punish the U.K. for leaving the bloc, amid claims the prime minister hasn’t done enough to charm her counterparts as she prepares to start Brexit.

Three senior members of May’s administration said that the single biggest obstacle to winning favorable exit terms and a new free-trade deal is an “emotional” backlash from the EU against last June’s vote for Brexit. One said the premier had not worked hard enough to woo EU leaders, warning that her failure to quell European hostility could prove a weakness in the talks. All three asked not be named as the discussions are private.

Against this backdrop, Brexit Secretary David Davis is preparing an intense round of shuttle diplomacy over the next four weeks in an effort to persuade other EU countries to give the U.K. a friendly divorce settlement. Analysts also suggested May could strike a conciliatory tone when she formally quits the bloc in a letter she will send on Wednesday.

“The tone of the negotiations is as important as the substance and so far it hasn’t been very good,” Emma Reynolds, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party who sits on the Brexit select committee, said in an interview. “I don’t think the prime minister or anybody else in government has done enough to build the sort of alliances and friendships with their EU counterparts that will be crucial to getting a good deal.”

The private warnings come as May prepares to invoke Article 50 — the legal exit mechanism from the EU — in two days. This will herald talks lasting as long as two years, during which time Britain wants to settle its divorce agreement and negotiate a comprehensive new free-trade pact with the EU.

The British officials said the EU is feeling hurt by the U.K. rejection, while European politicians are emotionally invested in the bloc’s integration in a way Britain never has been. This emotional mismatch is shaping up to be May’s biggest problem, they added.

Yet at exactly the time when the British prime minister needs closest relations with European leaders, May appears increasingly isolated. She stayed away from Saturday’s celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the EU’s founding Treaty of Rome. And despite traveling to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande soon after she took office last summer, May has suffered rebuffs since.