Clean break is May’s vision for UK future

IN a landmark speech, Theresa May says Britain 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.

There is a determination to make the Brexit deal work for Scotland. But with a clear commitment to preserve the Union, this will not be a surrender to the overthe-top demands of the SNP, which are tantamount to a negation of the entire Brexit vote.

And nor is this going to be Britain turning in on itself. Mrs May is determined to forge a new, mutually beneficial partnership between ‘a self-governing, global Britain and our friends and allies in the EU’.

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 Mrs May has laid down some ground rules. 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, Mrs May 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.