And asked about comments by the European Parliament’s Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, about the need for Britain to accept free movement of labor if it wants to stay in the EU’s single market, Davis responded: “Get thee behind me, Satan”.
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In a report on Article 50, the Constitution Committee challenged this procedure, arguing that Parliament must “play a central role” in the decision to launch negotiations, either by passing an Act of Parliament or approving resolutions tabled in both Commons and Lords.
Owen Smith, who is battling with Jeremy Corbyn for leadership of the Labour party, has also said he opposes triggering Article 50 without a further vote. The date when that will happen is not known.
He said the EP’s red lines in negotiations will be decided by the conference of presidence – group leaders and the EP president – and the EP’s plenary.
British prime minister Theresa May has said she will not trigger Article 50 until early 2017 at the earliest.
This could cause problems for Prime Minister May’s government, as a clear majority of lawmakers voted for the United Kingdom to remain part of the European Union, and will need to be persuaded to vote in favour of passing this legislation.
He said: “The government in its manifesto said it would respect the result of this referendum This was not advisory. I believe that the United Kingdom should trigger Article 50 as soon as possible, so that we can finalize these negotiations by 2019, because I cannot imagine that we start the next legislative cycle without agreement”, he told reporters September 13.
Media captionAs the United Kingdom leaves the EU, how can it untangle years of entwined British and European laws?
Mr Verhofstadt, leader of the liberal ALDE group in Europe, said “the position of the parliament is very clear – if the United Kingdom wants to remain part of the single market, it’ll have to accept the free movement of our citizens”.
Mr Davis said that if Britain was unable to reach a new trade agreement with the remaining 27 member states it would have to fall back on World Trade Organisation rules – although these only covered tariffs and not non-tariff barriers.
But Mr Verhofstadt suggested that the process should be completed by the end of 2018.
In comments made to a parliamentary committee, he added that Article 50 will not be triggered until his department, the Department for Exiting the European Union, is fully staffed.
“I am not in the business of symbolism”.
“I haven’t actually made an assessment of what the balance of power or the balance of interest or the balance of voting would be in each house”, Davis said.
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It claimed the admission was in “direct contradiction to what was promised by leave campaigners during the European Union referendum, all of whom – including Mr Davis – promised the British people that the United Kingdom would get a free trade agreement with the European Union upon exit”. “You will find in no speech of mine any reference to that”, he said.
