Brexit trigger just months away
Britain's new Brexit Secretary David Davis has said that negotiations to leave the European Union could begin by the end of the year.
In an article on the ConservativeHome website Mr Davis, whose official title is Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, said triggering Article 50, the official start of exit negotiations, could take place either by the end of 2016 or at the start of 2017.
Mr Davis said he believed that through negotiations the UK could maintain access to the Single Market while also implementing controls on immigration.
He has also told the Daily Mail that he was determined to win a 'generous settlement' for EU migrants already in the UK and for Britons living in the EU, but denied they were being used as bargaining chips.
"If you do it all together nobody is a bargaining counter. It is based on the presumption that they [the EU] will be rational about their own citizens' interest, which they will be," he said.
Mr Davis has also said that, while the government would be talking with representatives of British business, Scotland, Northern Ireland and London, key areas that supported remaining in the EU, none of them would have a "veto" on the process.
The Scottish National party leader, Nicola Sturgeon is still considering a second independence referendum in the light of the Brexit vote.
Prime Minister Theresa May has said steps are already underway to set up trade deals with Australia, and the international trade secretary, Liam Fox told the Sunday Times he was “scoping out” about a dozen trade deals.
Former minister Oliver Letwin has dismissed the talk of quick negotiations with the EU and multiple trade deals, saying in an interview on Radio 4 that the civil service does not have enough people to carry them out as its trade negotiators are working for the EU.
The new Prime Minister spoke on Saturday to her Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, who said he was keen to strike a trade pact with the UK “as soon as possible”.
Mrs May said the early plan for a trade pact with Australia was “very encouraging” and showed that Britain would thrive outside the European Union.
