UK 'ready to move on' in Brexit talks, May claims

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON

“We are ready to move on to phase two to see those talks about a deep and special partnership with the EU for the future,” Britain’s prime minister said Tuesday.

Theresa May said she had set out the U.K. government’s position in her Florence speech in September, in which she said: “We will honor our financial commitments.”

May’s comments came a day after she reportedly agreed with her Cabinet ministers to make a higher offer to the EU for the so-called divorce bill.

Local reports suggest the British government’s new offer will be around £40 billion ($53 billion) as the EU gave the U.K. a deadline to put on the table some concrete progress in three key issues: the financial settlement, the Irish border and citizens’ post-Brexit rights.

The EU will decide whether sufficient progress has been reached to move on to phase two in Brexit talks after debating the latest steps by the U.K. government at a December summit.

Brexit Secretary David Davis also spoke Tuesday to say they “need to be ambitious in terms of thinking about what deal we strike with the EU”.

It needs to be “completely new”, he said.

Claiming the U.K. and the EU have made tangible progress in Brexit talks, Davis said: “It is becoming clearer with each negotiation round that we now must start talking about our future relationship.”

The remarks from the prime minister and Davis came a day after EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Europe was ready to offer Britain the “most ambitious” trade partnership possible but it will not compromise its standards.

Northern Ireland border

Davis said a final deal would not be reached until the EU agreed to move on to trade talks.

“The Northern Ireland border cannot be fully addressed if it’d not taken into account the shape of our future partnership with the European Union,” Davis added.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister May met representatives of the two largest Northern Irish political parties, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein in London.

A government statement claimed May told the leaders of the DUP and Sinn Fein, Arlene Foster and Gerry Adams, respectively, to start intensive talks next week “to re-establish the fully functioning, inclusive devolved administration that works for everyone in Northern Ireland”.

Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government collapsed when Sinn Fein’s deputy then First Minister, the late Martin McGuinness, resigned from the region’s Executive over a botched energy scheme. Talks so far have failed to reach an agreement to form a new local government.