Theresa May insisted she would not give a “running commentary” on Brexit negotiations, as she refused to say whether she wanted the United Kingdom to stay in the European single market.
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A few hours earlier, however, Australia’s trade secretary Steven Ciobo said that any post-Brexit bilateral trade deal with his country was unlikely to come into effect before the middle of 2019.
At a separate news conference minutes later, European Council President Donald Tusk reiterated the EU’s stance that they will not start negotiating with Britain on its future relationship with a 27-member bloc until the British government formally invokes Article 50.
Mrs May insisted that “we are respecting the views of the British people” rather than attempting to row back from Brexit. “An optimistic tone is not enough and the phrase “Brexit means Brexit” has surely passed its shelf life”, said Anna Soubry, who voted to remain in the EU.
Mr Davis’s comment appeared to play into the hands of European Union countries who have insisted that Britain can not have full control over its borders and remain a member of the single market.
But he told the PM: “It doesn’t mean that we are going to discuss our future relations with the United Kingdom in Bratislava, because for this – and especially for the start of the negotiations – we need the formal notification, I mean triggering Article 50”.
“We have now concluded a deal to set up a trade working group with India to look at how we will remove barriers to trade before we negotiate a free trade agreement on our exit from the European Union”, added Fox.
All nations must ratify the deal, although if there is unanimity, the two-year deadline could be extended.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has not been invited to the summit, which will focus on “further reforms and [.] the development of the EU”. “And we will build a new relationship with the EU”.
Tusk made it clear that it was now for the United Kingdom to take things forward as soon as possible.
Berlin has repeatedly said that it and other European Union members would not begin exit negotiations with London before it triggers the EU’s Article 50 process to leave.
Mr Ciobo said an eventual deal could be struck “quite quickly”, because of Australia’s close historic and cultural ties with the United Kingdom, but added: “You would expect it’s at least two and a half years off”. All we’re asking for is for them to give us an idea of what they’re looking at – Are we going to be part of the single market?
As reported by the BBC, May was speaking in the Commons after Australia and the United Kingdom began “preliminary discussions” about a new trade deal.
“Some discussions about what our ambitions and aspirations are and there’s been good alignment in terms of those conversations”.
But May has faced criticism from Brexit backers for rejecting the idea of the United Kingdom adopting an Australian-style visa system, a programme that was backed by Vote Leave and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson during the campaign.
In July, then business minister Sajid Javid said he wanted to have 300 experts in place this year, up from around 40.
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“We think there should be some form of transitional arrangements”, Mr Browne said.
