May holds crisis talks in Scotland

British PM is preparing to embark on a journey this week that will change the European Union and UK forever

British Prime Minister Theresa May travelled to Scotland yesterday to try to avert its independence bid while also fighting a political crisis in Northern Ireland in the frantic final days before she launches Brexit.

With Britain still reeling from a terror attack at the gates of parliament, May is preparing to embark on a journey out of the European Union this week that will change Britain and the EU forever.

Ahead of her talks with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, May said she wanted “a more united nation” and would fight for the interests of all parts of Britain once exit negotiations with Brussels begin.

EU notification tomorrow

But Sturgeon wants Scotland to remain in the European single market when the rest of Britain leaves and the Edinburgh parliament is expected to back her call for a new independence referendum with a vote today.

May will send a letter to EU President Donald Tusk with Britain’s formal departure notification tomorrow, opening up a two-year negotiating window before Britain actually leaves the bloc in 2019.

The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the letter would run to eight pages and British media said it would be handed over in person by Britain’s EU envoy Tim Barrow.

May will also tomorrow address British MPs on Brexit, nine months after the country voted by 52 per cent in June in favour of leaving the EU, the first country to do so.

The EU is expected to provide an initial response by Friday and an EU summit on April 29 will come up with a more detailed strategy but the talks themselves are not expected to start until May at the earliest.

The prospect of those negotiations breaking down and Britain leaving with no deal in place is a growing concern for UK business leaders and among pro-EU politicians on both sides of the Channel.

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier last week warned that no deal could create queues at the port of Dover, disrupt air traffic in and out of Britain and even see the transport of nuclear material suspended. “We want a deal,” Barnier told reporters, after May said that “no deal is better than a bad deal”.

Barnier also said Britain must “settle the accounts” after EU officials said Britain faced an exit bill of around €60 billion (Dh239 billion; $65 billion) — likely to be a major bone of contention in the negotiations. Tens of thousands of pro-EU demonstrators took to the streets of London and other European cities on Saturday but for many Britons the country’s departure cannot come soon enough.