Germany ‘prepared’ to TAKE ON Britain as Article 50 invoked — BREXIT BEGINS

In her address Wednesday morning to MPs, Prime Minister Theresa May spoke of the decision as an historic turning point for Britain and one from which “there is no turning back”.

Theresa May will inform the European Council of Britain’s intention to leave the EU.

Britain’s EU ambassador Tim Barrow handed over the Brexit notification letter (Article 50) to Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, beginning the legal process.

May said she knew that triggering Brexit would be a day of celebration for some and disappointment for others. European Union chief Donald Tusk gives an emotional response to letter. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn slams Brexit approach as “reckless”. May told Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon Tuesday that there will be no second referendum.

Beyond security, the priority for any negotiation must be, as the letter says, to establish the secure status of European Union nationals living and working here, and that of British nationals living in the EU.

Despite May’s call for unity, Britons appear as divided now as in June’s referendum, which the “Leave” camp won by a narrow 52-48 margin after a vitriolic campaign. He followed it with a speech, in which he said, bluntly, that there was no reason to pretend today was a happy day.

“A pragmatic and grown-up dialogue on the real-world issues, rather than verbal volleys between London and Brussels, would give firms greater confidence over the next two years”, said Adam Marshall, director general of the BCC.

“And what can I add to this?”

“We believe it is necessary to agree the terms of our future partnership alongside those of our withdrawal”, she wrote.

The UK won’t seek membership of the single market, essentially a free-trade zone.

“We are definitely heading towards the WTO option”, Richard Baldwin, professor of global economics at Geneva’s Graduate Institute and an expert on trade agreements, told an audience of academics and trade diplomats last week in Geneva.

That could be seen by some in Europe as a threat to withdraw British security co-operation if the United Kingdom does not get its way.

She said it was the expectation of the government that the devolved administrations, including Northern Ireland, would see a “significant increase” in their decision making power.

May 4: Local government elections in England, Wales and Scotland will give voters a first opportunity to pass judgment on Mrs May’s handling of Brexit negotiations. A White Paper on how to do this will be published Thursday.

Britain will remain in the European Union with all the same rights and responsibilities that entails until a withdrawal agreement is reached or when two years have elapsed from the notification of intent to withdraw. I am fully confident of this, especially after the Rome declaration, and today I can say that we will remain determined and united also in the future, also during the hard negotiations ahead. The PM’s letter talks of Britain as “a magnet for worldwide talent and a home to the pioneers and innovators who will shape the world ahead”.

But she said she accepted that some consequences were inevitable.

“We understand that there will be consequences for the United Kingdom of leaving the EU”. But with nationalist, anti-EU parties on the rise across the bloc, they can not afford to give London generous terms that might encourage other member states to follow its example and break away.

Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty allows a member state to notify the European Union of its withdrawal and obliges the European Union to try to negotiate a “withdrawal agreement” with that state.

May also suggests quickly opening “technical talks” on how to avoid disrupting key economic sectors that are closely intertwined, mentioning finance and “network industries”, a term for sectors with strong linkages to other ones.

Even if some terms of divorce are not settled, the United Kingdom will fall out of the union on March 29, 2019.

“It seems nearly impossible that a full deal on trade can be reached in two years. Canada wanted a deal, the European Union wanted a deal – it’s taken seven years”.

While the overall tone of the letter and her Commons statement is more emollient than in the past, the letter does contain one significant threat.

“The impossible dream is happening”.

“All of this work leads us to conclude that although Brexit may well bring some changes to our footprint, a lot will continue to operate as it does today”. “We continue to express a cautious view on the Eurozone as they deal with both Brexit and their own domestic political concerns which, coupled with a new-found hawkishness at the European Central Bank, should see wider spreads and a weaker currency”.

“Paradoxically, there is also something positive in Brexit”.

Practically, EU officials acknowledge that elements of the withdrawal, such as arrangements on the new UK-EU border and notably on the land frontier across the island of Ireland, cannot be settled without some idea of the future trade relations.

Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has warned that the British government has not done enough for the “real prospect” that talks may break down, ending in no deal and “mutually assured damage” to both Britain and the EU.