UK will be strong country after we quit EU, says PM
BRITAIN will emerge from the EU as a ‘strong, self-governing global’ country, Theresa May said yesterday, as she vowed to trigger Brexit within the next fortnight.
She urged pro-Remain MPs to drop their objections to Brexit, saying it was time to ‘bring our country together’.
The Prime Minister is now reported to be planning a whistle-stop tour of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in a last-ditch bid to build a consensus before starting exit proceedings at the end of the month.
Her comments came after the House of Lords backed down on Monday and agreed to pass the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill without amendments. The legislation, now awaiting Royal Assent, gives Mrs May the power to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the formal two-year process for leaving the EU.
The Prime Minister told MPs that the UK was now at a ‘defining moment’ in its history when the country should pull together.
‘This will be a defining moment for our whole country, as we begin to forge a new relationship with Europe and a new role for ourselves in the world,’ she said.
‘We will be a strong, self-governing global Britain with control once again over our borders and our laws. We will use this moment of opportunity to build a stronger economy and a fairer society, so that we secure the right deal for Britain abroad and a better deal for ordinary working people at home.’
Downing Street refused to be drawn on the exact date Mrs May will trigger Article 50, but Whitehall officials are now planning for the event to take place on March 27.
Mrs May yesterday urged MPs to stop talking about a ‘divorce’ from the EU, saying she was ‘optimistic’ about the prospects of achieving an exit deal that would retain good relations with our continental neighbours.
‘A number of MPs have used the term “divorce”,’ she said. ‘I prefer not to use that term with regard to the European Union, because, often, when people get divorced, they do not have a good relationship afterwards. MPs need to stop looking at this as simply coming out of the European Union and see the opportunity for building a new relationship with the European Union, as that is what we will be doing.’
But the Prime Minister indicated she will play hardball in the Brexit talks, by refusing demands from Brussels to continue paying billions of pounds into the EU’s coffers.
The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier is demanding a £50billion payment to cover the UK’s ongoing commitments, although he has now dropped his insistence that the cash must be paid before trade talks can start.
But a recent House of Lords report said ministers were under no legal obligation to pay anything after leaving the EU. And ministers are reported to have received similar advice from government lawyers.
Asked about the issue yesterday, Mrs May said: ‘When people voted on June 23 last year they were very clear that they did not want to continue paying huge sums of money into the European Union.’
No 10 was tight-lipped about the prospects of Mrs May embarking on a whirlwind tour around the UK.
Sources pointed out that the PM has recently visited Scotland and it is understood her joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill will travel to Scotland tomorrow for talks with Tory MSPs that will now be dominated by the threat of a second independence referendum.
Mrs May is also due in Wales at the weekend for the Tories’ spring conference.
A trip to Northern Ireland, where concerns about Brexit are adding to a febrile political situation, is also a possibility.
Mrs May yesterday rejected Sinn Fein’s demand for a referendum on Irish unification.
‘Forge a new role for ourselves’