Four main decisions regarding Brexit announced by Theresa May

THERESA MAY the British Prime Minister made her much leaked speech on her plans for Brexit at a press conference on January 17 with much of the content appearing to be in accord with the recent recommendations of the Commons Brexit committee.

There was nothing particularly unexpected in the speech which lasted some 40 minutes but there was confirmation of a number of definite decisions made by the government which will affect the tone and result of proposed negotiations.

The four main points of her speech, and therefore her position as Article 50 is implemented, are as follows:

• Britain will not remain members of the single market;
• Parliament will be allowed to vote on a final Brexit deal;
• Britain will leave the customs union but will be looking for a special deal;
• She will argue that there could be an extended transitional period that may need negotiation.

One piece of immediate positive news is that the pound strengthened against the euro during the speech.

In a clear warning to the leaders of the 27 states with whom she will have to negotiate, she stated that if they tried to make this a punitive deal then she would rather leave EU without a trade deal than accept a bad deal which could mean the UK could consider adopting a revised economic model.

The inference therefore was that such a model may result in significant corporate tax reductions to encourage international business back to the UK.