Theresa May will lay out her plans for Britain’s exit from the European Union on Tuesday, in a major speech that will be closely scrutinised in financial markets, and by other European leaders.
The prime minister has come under intense political pressure to reveal more details of her negotiating priorities before she triggers article 50, the formal divorce process from the EU.
May promised senior MPs before Christmas that she would make a speech in the new year, “setting out more about our approach and about the opportunity I think we have as a country to use this process to forge a truly global Britain that embraces and trades with countries across the world”.
She has signalled some key principles, including taking control of immigration, and leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, which polices the single market.
May has also promised MPs she will publish a “plan” but Downing Street would not say whether it would be produced alongside the speech. Some MPs hoped for a formal government white paper; but it is expected to be a slimmer document, setting out a menu of options.
The pound fell sharply on the foreign exchanges after she announced those priorities in her party conference speech, which traders interpreted as pointing to a so-called “hard Brexit”.
May has since pledged to deliver a “red, white and blue Brexit”, and stressed that she wants the best “trade deal” possible with the EU.
But she has offered few other clues about her stance – Ivan Rogers, the government’s most senior representative at the EU, abruptly resigned earlier this month warning against “muddled thinking”, amid a turf war between Whitehall departments about who will run the negotiations.
Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said: “The prime minister must take this opportunity to reassure the country that she has a plan for Brexit and that she will fight for a deal that prioritises jobs, the economy and delivers trading arrangements that are free of tariffs and bureaucratic impediments. With just 10 or 11 weeks to go before the triggering of article 50, time is running out.”
The speech will come as the government awaits the verdict in the supreme court appeal that will determine whether it must consult parliament before pressing ahead with Brexit. Ministers have prepared more than one draft of a bill that could be tabled urgently if, as they expect, the government loses.
MPs have held a series of debates about Brexit, with another, about the impact on the rural economy, due to be held next week. But some, including many on the Conservative benches, are concerned about the lack of clarity on a series of questions, including whether the government hopes to remain within the customs union.
Pro-EU Conservatives, including Anna Soubry and Ben Howlett, plan to band together with likeminded MPs from other parties to try to force a backbench debate specifically on the single market, perhaps as soon as next week.
Soubry said in the House of Commons on Thursday: “As we all know, our country is about to go into its most important negotiations in decades, with consequences for generations to come, yet the three big issues – these issues divide within parties, not just across the House – of the single market, free movement and the customs union have still not been debated in this place.”
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: “Theresa May must stop trying to duck accountability by repeating empty platitudes. We need clear answers in her speech over the government’s plans, including whether it will stand up for Britain’s membership of the single market.”
Nicky Morgan, the former education secretary, called on May to use the speech to resolve the status of EU citizens already living in the UK, who fear they may lose their right to stay after Brexit. The government has said it would like the issue settled early in the negotiating process; but believes that must happen alongside reassurances for UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU.
Labour is deeply divided over the issue of freedom of movement, with Jeremy Corbyn saying he does not object in principle to limits on immigration – but would be willing to accept the continuation of free movement as the price of continued membership of the single market.
However, others in the shadow cabinet accept that single market membership will not be possible, and are starting to re-think how an immigration regime might look outside the EU.
In the House of Lords on Thursday, the Tory spokesperson, Lady Williams of Trafford, sparked fresh speculation about whether the government could tighten immigration rules within the existing freedom of movement regime – by insisting that EU migrants leave if they cannot find work after three months, for example.
Pressed repeatedly on why the UK does not interpret the rules more strictly, as some member states do, she said: “It is not a failure to implement; it is a difference in each country’s implementation of its legislation. This country is more than generous in its implementation of that directive.”
Following the debate, Lord (Richard) Rosser, Labour’s home office minister in the House of Lords, told the Guardian: “The government now appears to be saying that it hasn’t applied the rules on free movement as tightly as it could have, which suggests the argument that Brexit is the only way of reducing numbers coming to the UK from the EU is based on a false assertion.
“But it also begs the question of what Mr Cameron and his then home secretary, Mrs May were up to before the referendum when seeking concessions from the EU on this issue.”