THERESA’S NEW FREE BRITAIN

PM unveils bold 12-point plan for Brexit She rejects any deal that leaves us ‘half-in, half-out’ We’ll regain control of borders – and break free from EU judges

THERESA May will vow to break free from the EU’s shackles today – ruling out any deal that ‘leaves us half-in, half-out’.

Setting out her detailed plan for Brexit, the Prime Minister will reject partial or associate membership in favour of a ‘brighter future’ outside the Brussels bloc.

Her 12-point plan will see Britain regain full control over borders and quit both the single market and European Court of Justice. She will insist the UK can become a great, outwardlooking trading nation.

‘We seek a new and equal partnership – between an independent, self-gov- erning, global Britain and our friends and allies in the EU,’ she will say.

‘Not partial membership of the European Union, associate membership of the European Union, or anything that leaves us half-in, half-out.

‘We do not seek to adopt a model already enjoyed by other countries. We do not seek to hold on to bits of membership as we leave.

‘The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union. My job is to get the right deal for Britain as we do.’

The PM will not explicitly vow to leave the customs union, which allows tariff-free trade and the movement of

goods between its members. But she is determined not to sign up to anything that restricts the ability to take back sovereignty from the ECJ or prevents solo trade deals with the rest of the world.

In effect, this means quitting the customs union as it stands, and trying to strike a new trade deal which gives Britain the best of both worlds. One option would be to opt back in to some elements of the customs union, but on our own terms.

Mrs May will say her guiding principles, once she triggers the two-year article 50 process for leaving the EU in March, will be to provide certainty and clarity to business, while delivering a ‘stronger, fairer, truly global Britain’. She will say the British people voted for Brexit ‘with their eyes open’.

However, the speech is still likely to trigger a wave of protest from Remainers, who have insisted that leaving the single market or customs union would be a disaster for the economy. On a day of fevered speculation ahead of the Brexit blueprint:

Michael Gove said Britain had the ‘Trump hand’ in the EU negotiations now the president-elect had offered a quick trade deal;

The IMF revealed Britain was the fastest growing major economy in the developed world last year – and sharply uprated its gloomy forecasts for 2017;

The pound fell as much as 1.4 per cent against the euro to €1.1295 before recovering;

The City braced itself for volatile trading in sterling in the wake of Mrs May’s commitment to leaving the single market.

At the top of the list of 12 objectives is a commitment to regain control of the UK’s borders with a visa regime for EU workers and a pledge to restore British sovereignty by no longer being subject to the rulings of the European Court of Justice.

Mrs May will also set out her determination to create the maximum trading opportunities for Britain with the EU and the rest of the world; make the UK an attractive destination for investment and study; and protect and enhance workers’ rights.

The list includes securing a deal that will allow the three million EU citizens living in Britain to stay here, with a reciprocal arrangement for Brits living abroad.

In a bid to ease tensions north of the border, the PM will also make a specific commitment to ‘ preserve the Union’ with Scotland by securing a Brexit that works for those on both sides of the border.

Downing Street yesterday made it clear that, while Mrs May will be seeking the best possible deal with the EU, the country will not lie down if Brussels refuses a deal.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has threatened to slash business taxes if the EU will not reach agreement on tariff-free trade. The tactic has been dubbed a trade war

The PM’s official spokesman said: ‘ She shares the view that the Chancellor set out that we would want to remain in the mainstream of recognisable European taxation systems – but if we are forced to do something different because we cannot get the right deal then we stand ready to do so.’

Mrs May will tell an audience of ambassadors at London’s Lancaster House: ‘A little over six months ago the British people voted for change. They voted to shape a brighter future for our country. They voted to leave the European Union and embrace the world.

‘And they did so with their eyes open: accepting that the road ahead will be uncertain at times, but believing that it leads toward a brighter future for their children – and their grandchildren too.

‘It is the job of this Government to deliver it. That means more than negotiating our new relationship with the EU. It means tak- ing the opportunity of this great moment of national change to step back and ask ourselves what kind of country we want to be.

‘My answer is clear. I want this United Kingdom to emerge from this period of change stronger, fairer, more united and more outward-looking than ever before.

‘I want us to be a secure, prosperous, tolerant country – a magnet for international talent and a home to the pioneers and innovators who will shape the world ahead.

‘I want us to be a truly global Britain – the best friend and neighbour to our European partners, but a country that reaches beyond the borders of Europe too. A country that gets out into the world to build relationships with old friends and new allies alike.

‘I want Britain to be what we have the potential and ambition to be: a great, global trading nation that is respected around the world and strong, confident and united at home.’

Yesterday, Berlin and Brussels reacted with fury to a prediction by Mr Trump that the EU could begin to fall apart – with other countries quitting the block in protest at mass immigra- tion. Mrs May will strike a far more concilialiatory tone, saying it remains ‘overwhelminglygly and compellingly in Britain’s national interest est that the EU should succeed’.

She will state: ‘Our vote to leave the Euroropean Union was no rejection of the values we share. The decision to leave the EU repreresents no desire to become more distant to you, our friends and neighbours.

‘We will continue to be reliable partners, rs, willing allies and close friends. We want to buy your goods, sell you ours, trade with you as freely as possible, and work with onene another to make sure we are all safer, moreore secure and more prosperous throughgh continued friendship.’

The Prime Minister’s speech is expected to trigger an outpouring of anger and protestest from the Remain side.

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said Mrs May was heading for ‘a destructive, Hard Brexitxit and the consequences will be felt by millions ons of people through higher prices, greater instatability and rising fuel costs’.

‘A best friend and neighbour’

FOR months the massed ranks of embittered Remainers have been goading the Prime Minister to reveal her vision for Britain’s future outside the EU. She was in a muddle, they said, with no strategic plan and no coherent idea of what Brexit should ‘look like’.

Today they have their response – clear and unequivocal. In a landmark speech Theresa May says there will be no compromise. The people voted for a clean break from Brussels and nothing less will do. There will be no partial membership, no associate membership, or anything that leaves us ‘half in, half out’.

This means we must leave the single market, because it ties us to free movement of people across our borders. And, if the EU insists that being a member of the customs union means we cannot strike our own trade deals in the wider world, she will take us out of that, too.

We will, however, remain the best of neighbours. After leaving, she says, we will forge a new, mutually beneficial partnership between ‘a self-governing, global Britain and our friends and allies in the EU’.

Mrs May’s bold, positive stance is a welcome relief from the relentless pessimism and scaremongering of her opponents. And after the events of recent days she has much to be confident about.

Just seven months after being told by George Osborne and almost every economist on the planet that a vote to leave the EU would send us hurtling into recession, we learned yesterday that in fact Britain’s economy grew faster in 2016 than that of any other country in the developed world. This announcement came not from some pro-Brexit think-tank but the International Monetary Fund, an organisation which was firmly rooted in the Remain camp. And what’s more, the IMF predicts that UK growth next year will be stronger than first expected. As if to reinforce the message, the FTSE 100 share index climbed above 7,350 – another record.

There are of course fears that the fall in the pound, while good for British exports, will lead to higher inflation, and our level of debt – both private and public – continues to be a very real problem. Yes, our economy may yet take a dip. But at present, the UK is performing well – especially compared with the rest of Europe.

Meanwhile, our prospects for global trade once we leave the EU also received a surge of support as Australia, Canada and New Zealand all pledged free-trade agreements, and Presidentelect Donald Trump promised a new deal ‘within weeks’.

Indeed even Michel Barnier, the EU’s previously intransigent chief Brexit negotiator, now says he wants a ‘special relationship’ with the City of London after the UK has left. Could it be he listened to Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s warning that the EU has more to lose than Britain from a ‘hard’ Brexit?

Let us be clear. There are years of tough negotiations ahead and no-one should underestimate the difficulties of ensuring a smooth transition. Mrs May’s challenge now is to make sure her actions live up to the fine rhetoric.

But with this speech, she has laid down some ground rules and – more importantly – drawn some red lines. Full control of our borders, a return to sovereignty, the supremacy of Parliament and an end to the European Court’s primacy over British law are non-negotiable.

Above all, she offers an inspiring vision of the sort of country we can become when unshackled from the sclerotic Brussels machine that has held us back for so long: a Britain that is freer, more outward-looking, more prosperous and stronger than ever before.