Britain to begin EU exit talks no later than March 2017, Prime Minister says

The UK will start formal negotiations to leave the European Union no later than the first quarter of 2017, the Prime Minister said.

Speaking at the Conservative Party's annual conference in Birmingham on Sunday, Theresa May said she would invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty - the so-called 'get out' clause - before the end of March of the following year.

A bill would also be brought before Parliament, between May 2017 and May 2018, to incorporate all existing EU laws into UK legislation, in a bid to give companies and investors certainty.

“We should not let things drag on too long; having voted to leave, I know that the public will soon expect to see, on the horizon, the point at which Britain does formally leave the European Union,” May said on Sunday.

“There will be no unnecessary delays in invoking Article 50. We will invoke it when we are ready. And we will be ready soon. We will invoke Article 50 no later than the end of March next year.

“Everything we do as we leave the EU will be consistent with the law and our treaty obligations, and we must give as much certainty as possible to employers and investors,” May said. “I want to give British companies the maximum opportunity to trade in and operate in the single market.”

The Prime Minister reiterated her pledge to control immigration, while retaining the maximum possible access to the EU´s single market, but was short on specifics.

“I know some people ask about the ‘trade-off’ between controlling immigration and trading with Europe. But that is the wrong way of looking at things,” she said.

“We have voted to leave the European Union and become a fully independent, sovereign country. We will do what independent, sovereign countries do. We will decide for ourselves how we control immigration. And we will be free to pass our own laws.”

Essentially, the UK wants to essentially copy and paste all current EU legislation into the UK rulebook initially, to minimise disruptions, observed economists Holger Schmieding and Kallum Pickering at Berenberg, which would keep it in line with EU laws while still a member as it would be unable to make any major changes to these laws until after Brexit.

"Most importantly, May seems to lean towards a so called ‘hard Brexit’, pointing out that the UK would not take back its sovereignty just to ‘give it all up again’. May focused on key voter issues such as reducing the inflow of EU migrants into the UK," they wrote on Monday.

Rabobank analysts highlighted that, as it was generally considered that the more May insists on immigration control, the more the EU is likely to close access to the single market, her speech appeared to be setting the course towards a ‘hard’ Brexit – though this is a term that PM May has tried to dismiss.

"The drop in the value of the pound this morning reflects investors’ concerns."

As of 0915 BST cable was lower by 0.87% to 1.2859.