Mrs May also warned the Government would not be giving a “running commentary” on Brexit talks with Brussels as it could harm Britain’s position.
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She ruled out a points-based immigration system, while her minister charged with negotiating Brexit, David Davis, said Britain did not need to be a member of the EU’s single market to have access to it.
Mr Robertson claimed so far the Government had only come up with “waffle” about the post-Brexit plan.
“But we also want to get the best deal possible for trade in goods and services with the European Union, and I intend to go out there and be ambitious”.
Mrs May insisted that “we are respecting the views of the British people” rather than attempting to row back from Brexit.
Ms May’s statement followed accusations that her government was in disarray over the process of leaving the European Union, with senior ministers sending conflicting messages about key issues in the forthcoming negotiations.
Downing Street has distanced itself from the comments, but Mrs May was twice challenged on the issue by the SNP’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson.
“That gives them the yardstick against which you negotiate”, said Abbott, who during his more than 40-year career worked on trade for the British government, the European Commission and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
She added: “It would not be right for us to prejudge those negotiations”.
Labour’s Yvette Cooper, the Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford MP, called on Mrs May to make it clear whether she valued single market membership and id Britain should be.
But European leaders have warned Britain it can not cherry pick which rules it follows if it wants to continue to have unfettered access to Europe’s markets. “And we will build a new relationship with the EU”.
The UK government will not provide a “running commentary” on its Brexit negotiations with the EU, Theresa May told MPs this afternoon (7 September).
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “My formal advice is that, and this is from the United Kingdom side, the United Kingdom is unable to negotiate or sign an agreement prior to the formal exit from the EU”.
“With the prospects so uncertain I don’t see many other administrations being prepared to second people”.
MPs may also quiz Mrs May on a new UK-Australia working group to focus on “scoping out” a free trade agreement between the two countries.
“Some discussions about what our ambitions and aspirations are and there’s been good alignment in terms of those conversations”.
The three Brexit ministers, from left: International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, and Brexit Secretary David Davis.
Before the department was created, then business minister Sajid Javid said he wanted to have 300 experts in place this year, up from around 40.
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This would remove uncertainty and ease pressure on banks to decide now to move operations to Europe as it would take 2-3 years or more for banks to implement such a move, Browne said.
