Prime Minister on Brexit tour of UK
Tough negotiations with European Union lie ahead
POLITICS: With one year to go until Brexit, Theresa May is today mounting a whirlwind tour of the four nations of the United Kingdom.
Speaking to voters in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, Mrs May will say that, however they voted, what is important now is making Brexit “a success for everyone”.
WITH ONE year to go until Brexit, Theresa May is today mounting a whirlwind tour of the four nations of the United Kingdom with a promise to keep the country “strong and united”.
Speaking to voters in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales over the course of the day, Mrs May will say that, whether they voted Leave or Remain, what is important now is making Brexit “a success for everyone”.
The PM’s bid to heal divisions caused by the 2016 EU referendum comes as polls suggest voters are still split down the middle over whether the UK should leave.
As the final-year countdown began, she was buoyed by the EU’s approval for a 21-month transition period after the official date of Brexit on March 29 2019 to allow the UK to prepare for its new relationship with Europe.
But tough negotiations on the nature of the future relationship lie ahead over the months before a planned agreement in the autumn.
And the UK Government is facing stiff resistance from Edinburgh and Cardiff to plans to repatriate some powers from Brussels to London, rather than the devolved administrations.
Speaking ahead of her trip, Mrs May said: “I am determined that our future will be a bright one. It’s a future in which we trade freely with friends and partners across Europe and beyond. Having regained control of our laws, our borders and our money, and seized the opportunities provided by Brexit, the UK will thrive as a strong and united country that works for everyone, no matter whether you voted Leave or Remain.”
Mrs May insisted that each of the devolved administrations will see “an increase in their decisionmaking powers” as a result of the return of responsibilities currently exercised by the EU.
Her Government remains “absolutely committed” to the devolution settlements, she said.
And she restated her rejection of EU proposals which would effectively create an administrative border down the Irish Sea by keeping Northern Ireland in the customs union.
“As the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, I have an absolute responsibility to protect the integrity of the United Kingdom as a whole,” she said.
“That means ensuring that no new barriers are created within our common domestic market and that the UK is able to meet its international obligations in the future.
“No Prime Minister could leave these things to chance, because they are absolutely crucial to our success as a country in the future.”
Mrs May said the Union delivered “enormous benefits” to all four nations of the UK.
And she declared: “I am determined that as we leave the EU, and in the years ahead, we will strengthen the bonds that unite us, because ours is the world’s most successful union.
“The UK contains four proud and historic nations, but together we amount to so much more than the sum of our parts and our Union is an enormous force for good.”
The PM will start the day by visiting textile workers at a factory in Ayrshire, before travelling to Newcastle to meet with a local parent-and-toddler group.
She will have lunch with farmers near Belfast before travelling to Barry in south Wales for a round-table discussion with businesses, and will later have tea in west London with a group of Polish citizens who have made the UK their home.
Meanwhile, the Government has rejected calls for Ministers to negotiate continued EU citizenship for UK residents after Brexit. Ministry of Justice spokesman Lord Keen of Elie said that while many wanted to remain citizens of the EU, more had decided they did not in the referendum.
“It’s simply not feasible for us to set upon a course of negotiation that is doomed to failure,” he told peers in the marathon committee stage of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill. We cannot secure EU citizenship for citizens of the UK after we leave the EU.”
Lord Keen was responding to a call by Plaid Cymru’s Lord Wigley for Ministers in Brexit negotiations to secure continued EU citizenship for UK citizens. The exchanges came as peers neared the end of 11 days of study of the Bill, which transfers EU law into UK domestic law ahead of exit day.
Iam determined that our future will be a bright one. Prime Minister Theresa May.
THERESA MAY will tour the United Kingdom from a position of surprising strength as one-year countdown to Brexit, and Britain’s departure from the European Union, begins.
Her critics said she wouldn’t be able to trigger Article 50. She did. They said she wouldn’t conclude the first phase of negotiations with the EU. She did. And they said that she would be unable to strike a deal on transition arrangements. She did.
Mrs May is showing remarkable resilience for a Prime Minister who was characterised as “a dead woman walking” – and worse – by George Osborne, the former Chancellor. Even though she’s bereft of a Commons majority, she’s showing steadfastness.
This is reflected by her rapprochement with EU leaders. They no longer shun Mrs May. Instead they now appear to respect Britain’s premier and backed her tough stance towards Russia after the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
And, while Brexit will pose many pitfalls in the year ahead, some more unforeseen than the current dispute over fishing rights, it’s increasingly inconceivable that the June 2016 referendum result will be reversed – even Jeremy Corbyn sacked a Shadow Cabinet Minister last week for endorsing a second vote.
In this regard, the Government needs to work tirelessly to resolve outstanding issues, not least Northern Ireland’s border arrangements, so the UK’s transition is as smooth as possible. All residents and businesses, irrespective of their Brexit stance, deserve this at the very least.
Yet it would help if the Tory party in particular stopped using pejorative terms like ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ Brexit to define the stance of individuals – what Britain expects of Mrs May is the best Brexit possible, one that puts the national interest first and which enables Parliament to regain its sovereignty while pledging to work with the EU on issues of mutual benefit like defence and security co-operation.