Tusk – who oversaw the UK’s European Union renegotiation prior to the in/out referendum – has said he wants to see a “velvet divorce” between the United Kingdom and European Union, but he has also insisted that there will be no formal talks until the United Kingdom triggers the formal process for leaving under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
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Mrs May’s determination to retain the air of mystery was reinforced this week by her announcement that she reserves for herself the decision on when to start the “divorce” talks with the European Union, without giving MPs a formal say on the matter, and that, until she does so, she has no intention of providing “a running commentary on every twist and turn of the negotiations”.
“You can not dance with two people at once”, British Labour representative David Martin said.
The department came into existence in mid-July after a majority of voters backed Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union in the June 23 referendum.
And data just released by Britain’s Office for National Statistics indicates that manufacturing output is declining sharply, as British factories cut back production as a result of the Brexit uncertainty.
Currently, “the European Union has 42 different trade deals with countries from Mexico to South Korea to South Africa”, and the worldwide body is “willing to negotiate based on a case-by-case basis”.
The European Parliament has appointed Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister and an arch-federalist, as its chief Brexit negotiator.
In Brussels, Eurosceptic politicians praised Australia for discussing post-Brexit trade.
“Looking ahead, the lesson from the past is that it takes at least a year for Sterling depreciations to boost net trade, as it takes time for firms to re-negotiate contacts and exporters to invest in new capacity”.
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.
“We can separate that”, he said.
Options include hiring experts from law firms, banks or consultancies, something which is likely to prove expensive.
“Are we going to see cohorts of Australians, Canadians, Japanese walking in to Whitehall to carry on our worldwide trade negotiations for us?”
Asked about recent warnings from Japan about the the impact of migration controls on its UK-based companies, he said: “We can not accept uncontrolled free movement of people. So we’d better train up, you’d better have some pretty intensive crash training programs for indigenous Britons”.
But the Prime Minister’s bigger problem is that the debate about what Brexit should mean is now shifting inside her own ruling Conservative Party.
As far as voter’s economic concerns go, the study made a good argument that the UK’s exit opens the possibility of gaining a favorable trade deal with the EU.
The EU’s recently concluded deal with Canada only included limited provision for services and maintains some restrictions over financial services access, a crucial area for Britain.
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“It is going to be a major issue for Britain”.
