Government of the United Kingdom

Government to 'push ahead' with Brexit

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• published: 31 Aug 2016
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The government will "push ahead" to triggering Brexit without Parliamentary approval, Downing Street says. In a statement after Theresa May's cabinet gathered at Chequers, Number 10 said ministers agreed on the need for a "unique" deal for the UK. Mrs May told cabinet colleagues to focus on the "opportunities" outside the EU as she reiterated there would be no second referendum. The UK would not stay in the EU "by the back door", she added. The PM has said official talks with the rest of the EU will not begin this year. The meeting at the PM's country residence was billed as the most significant since the referendum vote in June amid reports of tensions and diverging priorities among key figures in the Cabinet charged with implementing the UK's exit. Cabinet ministers had been asked before the summer break to identify what were described as the "opportunities" for their departments. In comments made at the start of the meeting while cameras were allowed in, Mrs May told ministers that the government was clear that "Brexit means Brexit". "We will be looking at the next steps that we need to take and we will also be looking at the opportunities that are now open to us as we forge a new role for the UK in the world," she said. "We must be clear that we are going to make a success of it - that means no second referendum, no attempts to sort of stay in the EU by the back door. That we are actually going to deliver on it." The prime minister has said the UK government will not trigger Article 50 - the official mechanism for beginning the process of leaving the EU - until the start of 2017 at the earliest. From that moment, discussions over the terms of the UK's exit will conclude in two years unless all 28 members of the EU agree to extend them. The UK voted to leave the EU, by a margin of 51.9% to 48.1%, in a referendum on 23 June and Mrs May, who had backed staying in the EU, became prime minister after David Cameron resigned in its aftermath. Two months on from the vote, the relationship the UK will have with the EU after its exit, in terms of access to the EU internal market and obligations in regard to freedom of movement, remains unclear. A Downing Street spokeswoman reiterated that MPs would not get a vote on Article 50, and said cabinet members had agreed that the UK would not seek an "off the shelf" model for its future relationship with the EU. "This must mean controls on the numbers of people who come to Britain from Europe but also a positive outcome for those who wish to trade goods and services," she added. Ministers also agreed that Brexit must work for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, she said, but the UK government would decide the terms and when to trigger Article 50. Former Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire said there was a "definite fault line" between ministers who believed Brexit was chiefly about ending free movement and those who wanted to see more "flexibility", meaning the UK did not yet have its "ducks in a row" for negotiations. Mr Swire, who campaigned for Remain, told BBC Radio 4's The World at One: "Until we have a clear idea of what it is that we are trying to achieve... I think we should proceed with great caution." Wednesday's meeting at the prime minister's country residence is being seen as an opportunity for Mrs May and senior colleagues to talk through many issues involved ahead of this weekend's summit of G20 leaders in China. The talks are being billed as the most significant since the referendum result and mark an end to the relative lull in proceedings over the summer recess - which ends on Monday. Mrs May, who has held face-to-face talks with the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Poland and Slovakia since taking office, has said time is needed to determine the UK's strategy as a "sensible and orderly departure" is in the national interest. But several senior Conservatives have warned against undue delay and said nothing should stand in the way of the UK triggering Article 50 as soon as possible next year.