British Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain will take time to consider what its post-Brexit relationship with the European Union will look like without revealing its hand ahead of time.
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In the June 23 vote, 51.9 percent, or 17.4 million people, voted to leave the European Union while 48.1 percent, or 16.1 million people, voted to stay in the EU.
Anna Soubry, the former business minister, said Mr Davis had been right to draw a distinction between having access to the single market and being a member of it. “Access is available to anyone but would impose trade barriers – costing jobs and investment – whereas membership is by far the best deal for Britain”, she argued. But we must also think through the issues in a sober and considered way.
And she said Mrs May maintained an “open mind” about what could be secured from negotiations with the remaining 27 member states under Article 50 of the European Union treaties, and planned to be “ambitious” in her stance.
“This is a negotiation, it is not always the right approach to start putting all your cards on the table at the start”.
Scottish National Party lawmaker Angus Robertson challenged May to give an “in or an out answer” about whether Britain would remain a full member of the European single market.
Addressing the House of Commons after PMQs, the Prime Minister said her negotiators would be fighting for the best deal for Britain – and part of that would be by not giving a running commentary on negotiations.
She added that the proposal by Japanese technology company SoftBank to buy Britain’s ARM Holdings for $32 billion was “the single biggest vote of confidence we have had in (Britain) in terms of inward investment since the referendum”.
She said the Australian trade minister would visit Britain this week for exploratory talks on the shape of a British-Australian trade deal.
The Conservative government has yet to set out its vision for Brexit following the referendum vote on June 23, beyond saying it would not start formal exit negotiations with Brussels until next year. That’s why we need to do the work that there is.
Mrs May told the House that during the G20 the leaders of India, Mexico and Singapore said they would welcome trade deals with the United Kingdom, as would China.
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Meanwhile, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox announced the creation of a UK-Australia working group to focus on “scoping out” a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
