09 January,2017 09:42 AM IST | | Agencies
British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Sunday she would set out her strategy for Brexit over the coming weeks, denying suggestions she was “muddled’ in the pursuit of what she called the right relationship with the EU
London: British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Sunday she would set out her strategy for Brexit over the coming weeks, denying suggestions she was "muddled' in the pursuit of what she called the right relationship with the EU.
In her first interview of the year, May ignored growing calls from business leaders, lawmakers and opposition leaders for more detail on her strategy to leave the European Union, offering little beyond a pledge to get the best possible deal. She repeated that what is a crucial issue on both sides of the EU debate - whether curbing immigration into Britain will be prioritised over preferential access to the bloc's single market - was not a "binary choice" and said that the country would not be keeping "bits" of EU membership.
"First of all, I will be setting out some more details in the coming weeks as we look ahead to triggering Article 50," she said, referring to the start of the divorce procedure that she will invoke before the end of March.
EU officials say Britain cannot have access to its single market of 500 million consumers without accepting the principle of free movement and have repeatedly warned May against trying to "cherry pick" the profitable parts of their union.
May said she was aiming for "an ambitious deal", shrugging off a suggestion by Britain's former ambassador to the EU, Ivan Rogers, that her government was "muddled" in its approach to some of the most complicated negotiations the country has held since World War Two. "Our thinking on this isn't muddled at all," she said.
