May to pitch status quo Brexit transition to parliament
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LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May will pitch her plan for a Brexit transition period with unchanged access to European Union markets when she briefs MPs on Monday about her latest negotiating trip to Brussels.
May secured an agreement last week to move previously-deadlocked talks forward onto the topic of interim and long-term trading arrangements.
On Monday she will report back to parliament on those talks, setting out the framework of a time-limited implementation period designed to smooth Britain’s EU exit and provide clarity for businesses and citizens.
“This will help give certainty to employers and families that we are going to deliver a smooth Brexit,” May will say, adding that the guidelines agreed last week point to a shared desire with the EU to make “rapid progress” on a deal.
The outline of the transition period that May will present is consistent with plans she has previously set out, and remains subject to negotiation in Brussels.
“During this strictly time-limited implementation period which we will now begin to negotiate, we would not be in the Single Market or the Customs Union, as we will have left the European Union,” May will say according to advance extracts of her statement.
“But we would propose that our access to one another’s markets would continue as now, while we prepare and implement the new processes and new systems that will underpin our future partnership.”
