May Pledges Brexit Details in Weeks, Denies ‘Muddled’ Thinking

EghtesadOnline: U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said she will unveil details of her plan to negotiate Britain’s departure from the European Union in the coming weeks after pressure has mounted for her to show the government isn’t “muddled” in its planning.

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08 January 2017

May said no plan for Brexit was drawn up by her predecessor David Cameron and she needed to assess the situation and work out the correct way to act once Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty is invoked by the end of March, starting two years of divorce talks.

“There hadn’t been any plans made for Brexit so it was important for us to take some time to look at the issues, look at the complexity of the issues,” May said Sunday in an interview with Sky News. “Our thinking on this isn’t muddled,” she said, “I will be setting out some more details in coming weeks as we look ahead to triggering Article 50.”

According to Bloomberg, May defended herself from an allegation by Ivan Rogers, Britain’s envoy to the EU who quit last week, that her government lacked a plan for leaving the bloc. She said a deal will have to include control over Britain’s borders, which other EU leaders have said will be a bar for giving the U.K. access to Europe’s single market in goods and services.

Asked about the tradeoff between single-market membership and free movement of people, which will be at the heart of the negotiations, she said it will be about “getting the right relationship, not about keeping bits of membership.”

“We will be outside the European Union but we will get the best possible deal for the U.K.,” she said.