LONDON // Britain will start the formal process for leaving the EU before the end of March, prime minister Theresa May said on Sunday.
Mrs May outlined her vision for a post-EU Britain and took the first steps to making a British exit a reality at the Conservative party’s annual conference in Birmingham.
She said the British people expected to see the moment “on the horizon” when Britain would leave – and that she was going to deliver.
“We will invoke it when we are ready and we will be ready soon,” Mrs May said. “We will invoke Article 50 no later than the end of March next year.”
While she had hinted that she planned to initiate Brexit early next year, many speculated she would wait until France’s presidential election ended in May or even after the Germany polls in late summer or autumn.
But Mrs May said there would be no unnecessary delays and that it would fight any legal challenges to derail the move.
Britain voted in a June referendum to leave the EU but exit negotiations can only begin when Article 50 of the EU treaty is invoked. Doing so will launch two years of negotiations to work out the details of Britain’s relationship with the bloc.
That timetable can be extended by a unanimous vote of the EU members.
Mrs May said she would ask the British parliament to repeal the European communities act that brought the UK under EU rules.
She said her government would incorporate all EU laws into British law and then repeal measures on a case-by-case basis.
“That means that the United Kingdom will be an independent, sovereign nation,” she said. “It will be making its own laws.”
Mrs May said that by offering a timetable now, she hoped to encourage the two sides to engage in preliminary work that would help the negotiations to go smoothly once they begin.
EU leaders have so far rejected any such discussions.
The president of the 28-nation EU’s governing European Council, Donald Tusk, offered support for Mrs May’s position. Mr Tusk told her at a recent meeting in Downing Street that the “ball is now in your court”.
“PM May’s declaration brings welcome clarity on start of Brexit talks,” he tweeted on Sunday. “Once Article 50’s triggered, EU27 will engage to safeguard its interests.”
One of the biggest sticking points in any talks will be immigration. The free movement of labour is a founding principle of the EU, and millions of EU citizens live and work in Britain.
The perception that immigrants have strained public services and changed the face of many communities was a factor for many British citizens who voted to leave the EU.
Mrs May said she intended to heed public opinion on that point.
“Apart from the message of leaving the European Union, I think there was also a clear message from the British people that they wanted us to control movement of people from the EU coming into the UK, so we will deliver on that,” she said.
Mrs May also rejected the idea that elements within the UK might be able to negotiate a deal for themselves. The message was aimed at Scotland, which only narrowly rejected an independence move in 2014 and voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU.
The devolved government in Edinburgh wants a place at the table because of Scotland’s many trade ties with the EU.
“We will negotiate as one United Kingdom and we will leave the European Union as one United Kingdom. There is no opt-out for Brexit,” Mrs May said.
“I will never allow divisive nationalists to undermine the precious union between the four nations of our United Kingdom.”
Critics pounced on the first tangible moves on the process in weeks. Conservative Anna Soubry, a former minister who is in the pro-Europe wing of the party, said she was concerned that Mrs May would trigger the article so soon, warning that companies such as Nissan might leave without a deal on the single market.
“Triggering Brexit as early as March really concerns me, troubles me hugely, because we won’t have had the French elections, we won’t have had the German elections, and I’m sorry, it is going to take a lot of time and effort to disentangle ourselves and get the right deal,” Ms Soubry said.
The opposition Labour Party asked for more clarity on the proposals. Stephen Kinnock, a member of Parliament from Aberavon, said Mrs May had yet to say what leaving will mean in practice.
“The Brexit process will give this government more power to reshape Britain than any government has had since the Second World War,” Mr Kinnock said.
“And yet what Brexit means is still unclear, and the government has no specific mandate for its negotiating position, assuming that it has one.”
* Associated Press
