Britain to cut ties with EU after Theresa May says she will trigger Article 50 next March and uses conference speech to slap down deluded Remainers
THERESA May laid down the gauntlet to the EU by naming full control over immigration and ours laws as Britain’s two Brexit red lines on Sunday.
And in a tub thumping speech to Tories, she then dared the other 27 leaders to throw up self-defeating trade barriers against us.
Brussels bosses have repeatedly warned the UK cannot have access to the single market without accepting the EU’s free movement principle too.
Delivered while fittingly wearing steel-capped shoes, Mrs May’s bold declaration tees up a titanic two year-long game of brinkmanship, after she also revealed yesterday she will she begin formal Brexit negotiations by the end of March next year.
Triggering the maximum two year-long Article 50 process by March 31 confirms Britain will be independent from the EU by April 1, 2019.
In a move that could infuriate other EU leaders, the PM also put Britain’s world beating counter-terrorism intelligence expertise on the table for any deal for the first time.
Mrs May’s big intervention came in a special speech on Day One of the Tory conference - her first as their leader – to lay out her fullest vision for Brexit yet.
Delighting the party faithful, Mrs May also urged Britain: “Let’s ignore the pessimists, let’s have the confidence in ourselves to go out into the world, securing trade deals, winning contracts, generating wealth and creating jobs.
“Let’s show the country we mean business.”
Laying out the major two red lines, she said: “Let me be clear. We are not leaving the European Union only to give up control of immigration again.
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“And we are not leaving only to return to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
"We are about to begin is not about negotiating all of our sovereignty away again."
But she also warned that she may have to make some compromises along the way, as every negotiation requires “some give and take”.
Critics immediately insisted her formula meant the PM was aiming for a hard Brexit and total clean break form the EU.
But in a bid to recalibrate all conventional thinking, Mrs May insisted the “trade-off” between controlling immigration and trading openly with the rest of Europe “is the wrong way of looking at things”.
Instead of signing up Britain to an existing model, Mrs May instead issued a vision of our future relationship as “an agreement between an independent, sovereign United Kingdom and the European Union”.
As well as the key issue of trade, it will also include law enforcement and counter-terrorism cooperation.
GCHQ and MI5 and MI6’s world-beating spy networks will now be a major bargaining chip for Britain in the negotiations, as countries such as France and Belgium rely heavily on them to warn them of impending terror attacks.
Mrs May’s vision is her answer to spiraling pressure from MPs and businesses to start defining how our EU walkaway will work, having so far said little more than “Brexit means Brexit”.
She won a standing ovation from the conference hall in Birmingham and strong praise from pro-Brexit Tory MPs.
Speaking after Mrs May, Brexit Secretary David Davis compared the Brexit challenge to the task faced by former female Tory leader Margaret Thatcher in 1979.
On the titanic challenge to get drag Britain back to economic health in the 1980s, Mr Davis said: “They said it can't be done.
“We proved them wrong then, and we'll prove them wrong again.
“It won't be in anyone's interests to put up barriers to free trade. We want to see the freest possible trade between us.”
But Tory and Labour MPs campaigning for close links to the EU to remain lashed out at it.
Ex-business minister Anna Soubry said triggering Brexit as early as March “troubles me hugely”.
Ms Soubry insisted: “The idea that we hold the cards that we are going to get anything like as good as we have now is rubbish.
"We don’t hold the card, the EU do."
"We don’t hold the card, the EU do"
The MP also warned the PM will not have “a blank cheque in Parliament for the kind of hard Brexit hinted at” by her.
Former shadow cabinet minister Chuka Umunna added: “Further clarity on the Government's approach to Brexit is welcome. But they have serious issues to address.
“They should negotiate for the outcome polls say the British people support above all – continued membership of the EU Single Market, with reforms to free movement.”
EU chiefs praised Mrs May for naming the date.
But in a sign of trouble ahead, they also warned yesterday that they were prepared to dig in too.
EU Council chief Donald Tusk tweeted in response: “PM May's declaration brings welcome clarity on start of Brexit talks.
“Once Art. 50's triggered, EU27 will engage to safeguard its interests.”
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