But May, a former interior minister who was in charge of the ruling Conservative Party’s immigration policy, also says she wants the best trade deal for Britain, refusing to say whether the country will remain in the EU’s lucrative single market.
Advertisement
Tusk said the leaders of the other 27 European Union nations would “discuss the political consequences of Brexit” for Europe in Bratislava next week.
Ahead of the meeting, Tusk told May that “the ball is now in your court” to start negotiations.
At the beginning of the meeting on Downing Street, Tusk told May: “I’m aware that it is not easy but I still hope you will be ready to start the process as soon as possible”.
Tusk tweeted that a quick initiation of negotiations was in “everyone’s interest”, and maintained that the EU’s goal was to establish the closest possible relations with Britain.
May has said she won’t invoke Article 50 of the European Union constitution, the trigger for talks, before the start of 2017.
May has said she will not show her hand before starting the Brexit talks, giving few details of what her government wants when it leaves the EU.
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May, left, greets European Council President Donald Tusk in Downing Street in London on Thursday.
“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 (EU)”, Fox said.
During the meeting at Downing Street, May said the exit procedure following the June 23 referendum on European Union membership would not begin before 2017.
The prime minister has been adamant that the decision to formally begin the process rests firmly in the hands of her government.
Jeremy Corbyn accused the Government of issuing “contradictory messages” on Brexit which were exacerbating “huge uncertainty” about the UK’s future.
In London, Tusk met May for their first head-to-head meeting since Britain voted to leave the bloc in a referendum on June 23 which led to the resignation of her predecessor David Cameron.
Following the 75-minute meeting, Mrs May’s official spokeswoman played down suggestions that Mr Tusk’s comments were meant to put pressure on the PM to hasten the invocation of Article 50.
“What the president said was that the ball is in our court, which it is”, the spokeswoman told reporters.
“It’s for the member state to decide”.
Advertisement
Ireland’s government called for ministers to put concerns about the impact Brexit will have on Northern Ireland high up the agenda. However with the exit talks unlikely to start for months, Mr. Tusk has said the main focus of the meeting will likely end up on other themes.
