EU chief praises Theresa May’s Brexit speech as she sets down red lines on immigration, exit of the single market – but MPs still get a vote and we’ll pay into the EU budget
EU CHIEF Donald Tusk has praised Theresa May's Brexit speech as "realistic" after she vowed for a clean break with Europe which will take back control of our borders and laws.
In a highly-anticipated speech in Lancaster House, the Prime Minister confirmed that Britain WOULD leave the Single Market after Brexit, and promised MPs a vote on the final EU deal.
Mrs May said that any deal must mean we are able to "control the number of people who come to Britain from Europe" and promised she would deliver crucial changes to immigration rules.
She said she did not want a "partial membership" of the European Union, associate membership of the European Union, or anything that leaves us half-in, half-out.
And she promised MPs and peers a vote on the final Brexit deal - which sent the pound soaring.
And not long afterwards, EU chief Mr Tusk tweeted his support for Mrs May's speech.
The Brussels bigwig said he was "sad" about the UK's exit from the EU, but that the other 27 member states were ready to talk after Article 50 is triggered.
"At least more realistic announcement on Brexit," he said.
The PM is set to talk with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker later today too, and he will address the European Parliament in response tomorrow.
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Promising to "get on" with the job of Brexit, The PM told an audience of EU ambassadors today that Britain will no longer pay "vast" amounts of money to the EU when we leave, but that the UK may make "appropriate contributions" to some parts of the EU budget.
And she said she would try to provide ";certainty wherever we can" throughout the period of negotiations.
"We seek a new and equal partnership – between an independent, self-governing, Global Britain and our friends and allies in the EU.
"We are leaving the European Union, but we are not leaving Europe," she said.
But at the same time, the PM insisted she also still has a major hope to trade as "freely as possible" with the EU as "the best friend and neighbour to our European partners".
"We do not want to turn the clock back to a time where Europe was less peaceful," she said.
The PM added that the vote to leave the EU was "not the moment Britain chose to step back from the world, but the moment we chose to build a truly global Britain".
Mrs May insisted that she would still not provide a "running commentary" on the negotiations, and continued to keep some of her cards close to her chest.
But she did confirm that she would walk away from a bad deal with the EU if she had to.
"No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain," she warned, telling EU chiefs that playing hardball and giving us a "punitive" deal would be a "calamitous act of self harm", not the actions of a friend.
"This is not a game... it a crucial and sensitive negotiation" that will define Britain for many years to come, she said.
The 12 points the PM stressed were:
1. We will provide certainty wherever we can.
2. Leaving the European Union will mean that our laws will be made in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
3. A stronger Britain demands that we strengthen the precious union between the four nations of the United Kingdom.
4. We will deliver a practical solution that allows the maintenance of the Common Travel Area with the Republic of Ireland.
5. Brexit must mean control of the number of people who come to Britain from Europe.
6. We want to guarantee rights of EU citizens living in Britain & rights of British nationals in other member states, as early as we can.
7. Not only will the government protect the rights of workers set out in European legislation, we will build on them.
8. We will pursue a bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement with the European Union.
9. It is time for Britain to get out into the world and rediscover its role as a great, global, trading nation.
10. We will welcome agreement to continue to collaborate with our European partners on major science, research and technology initiatives.
11. We will continue to work closely with our European allies in foreign and defence policy even as we leave the EU itself.
12. We believe a phased process of implementation will be in the interests of Britain, the EU institutions and member states.
The PM took a swipe at other EU leaders for refusing to guarantee the rights of British citizens abroad, and of EU citizens in Britain.
She said that she wanted to secure an arrangement on this "as soon as possible".
And she hit out at the bloc for "trying to hold things together by force, tightening like a vice-like grip that ends up crushing into tiny pieces the very things you want to protect".
Instead she said that the EU needed to "respect difference, cherish it even" and reform the union so it can deal better with its diversity.
The PM confirmed that Britain would still want to continue to attract the"brightest and the best" people from Europe, and that our "openness to international talent must remain".
But she added that the people had clearly voted for a Brexit that takes back control over immigration and our borders.
She confirmed too that the UK would seek a "transitional arrangement" to "avoid a disruptive cliff-edge" when we leave the bloc.
Mrs May used her speech to thank the former PM David Cameron for his "valiant" attempt to get a deal with the EU, but said that it did not have "enough flexibility" for British voters to vote to Remain in the bloc.
She also said that she did not want to see the European Union fall apart, as it would not be in the best interests of Britain.
Last night No10 gave the PM’s full backing to Chancellor Philip Hammond’s warning that he will unleash a tax and red tape war to compete with the EU for business if there is no satisfactory Brexit deal.
Putting the 27 other EU members on warning, the PM’s official spokeswoman said: "We would want to remain in the mainstream of a recognised European-style taxation system.
";But if we are forced to do something different, we stand ready to do so."
Also on Mrs May’s 12-strong list of objectives will be confirmation that Brexit will mean withdrawing from the EU’s founding principle of free movement so she can deliver on the Brexit’s vote message to get immigration under control.