Theresa
May to say UK is 'prepared to accept hard Brexit'
Forthcoming
speech by prime minister believed to suggest that UK must be willing
to leave single market to regain control of its borders
Guardian staff and
agencies
Sunday 15 January
2017 08.48 GMT
Theresa May is to
announce that the government is prepared to accept a clean break with
the EU in its negotiations for the UK’s departure, according to
reports.
In a speech to be
delivered on Tuesday, the prime minister is said to be preparing to
make clear that she is willing to sacrifice the UK’s membership of
the single market and customs union in order to bring an end to
freedom of movement.
An article in the
Sunday Telegraph cites “sources familiar with the prime minister’s
thinking” as saying that May is seeking to appease the Eurosceptic
wing of her party by contemplating a “hard”, or “clean”,
Brexit.
In the speech to an
audience of diplomats at London’s Lancaster House May will hope to
end months of speculation about her intentions by setting out her
aims for Brexit. According to the Sunday Telegraph, she will say that
the UK must:
be prepared to leave
the EU customs union;
regain full control
of its borders, even if that means losing access to the single
market, and
cease to be subject
to rulings by the European court of justice.
She will also use
the address to appeal for unity after six months of bitter
recriminations between pro- and anti-EU factions. She will plead for
an end to insults, the Press Association reports, as well as the
divisive terminology of “leavers” and “remainers”, and call
on both sides to come together to make a successful future for
Britain outside the EU.
May is expected to
focus on building “common goals” – such as protecting and
enhancing workers’ rights – in an attempt to create a consensus
after months of acrimonious exchanges.
“One of the
reasons that Britain’s democracy has been such a success for so
many years is that the strength of our identity as one nation, the
respect we show to one another as fellow citizens, and the importance
we attach to our institutions means that when a vote has been held we
all respect the result,” she is expected to say.
“The victors have
the responsibility to act magnanimously. The losers have the
responsibility to respect the legitimacy of the result. And the
country comes together.
“Now we need to
put an end to the division and the language associated with it –
leaver and remainer and all the accompanying insults – and unite to
make a success of Brexit and build a truly global Britain.”
Comments from David
Davis offered further clues as to the government’s Brexit strategy.
Writing in the Sunday Times, the Brexit secretary hinted that the UK
might seek a transitional deal with the other 27 EU nations.
“We don’t want
the EU to fail, we want it to prosper economically and politically,
and we need to persuade our allies that a strong new partnership with
the UK will help the EU to do that,” he wrote. “If it proves
necessary, we have said that we will consider time for implementation
of new arrangements.”
Pro-Remain Tory MP
Nicky Morgan, sacked as education secretary by May in July, said the
prime minister should put “maximum participation” in the single
market at the heart of her negotiating strategy.
“The government
will be doing a disservice to the country and to both leave and
remain voters if it dogmatically pursues a hard, destructive Brexit
where immigration control is the be all and end all, our economy is
undermined, and people are left poorer,” she said.
The details of May’s
speech have emerged the day after the EU’s chief negotiator offered
the first hint of a compromise from Brussels to ensure that member
states continue to have easy access to the City. According to
unpublished minutes seen by the Guardian, Michel Barnier indicated
that he wants the remaining 27 countries to have a “special
relationship” with the financial markets of the City of London.
The paper said he
told a private meeting of MEPs that work was needed to avoid
financial instability once Britain left the bloc, according to a
summary of the talks by the European Parliament. “Some very
specific work has to be done in this area,” he said, according to
the minutes. “There will be a special/specific relationship. There
will need to be work outside of the negotiation box … in order to
avoid financial instability.”
The disclosure will
encourage pro-Brexit MPs who have long argued that the UK will have
more leverage in the negotiations than some critics have allowed.
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