Theresa May sets out ‘hard facts’ on Brexit in speech

And on the eve of her speech, she clashed with European Council president Donald Tusk, who warned: “There can be no frictionless trade outside the customs union and the single market”.

She said Britain’s goal post-Brexit was “a bold and comprehensive economic partnership with our neighbours in the European Union, and reaching out beyond to foster trade agreements with nations across the globe”.

As Bloomberg reported on February 24, May blurred a key red line she has long held onto: that of the role of the European Court of Justice, a symbol of lost sovereignty for Brexit backers.

“UK and European Union regulatory standards will remain substantially similar in the future” to ensure there is no need for tariffs and other obstacles for the free movement of goods, Ms May said.

At home, rumours continue to circulate of a rebel Tory MP faction threatening to remove May from 10 Downing Street, while support from the DUP is under threat over suggestions of a hard Irish border. “If this is cherry-picking, then every trade arrangement is cherry-picking”.

The EU official called Tusk’s lunch with May “an open and honest debate in a good atmosphere about the real political difficulties ahead of us”.

In an attempt to add detail to Britain’s negotiation on leaving the EU, May mixed concessions with a plea for a deal that would keep trade flowing between the world’s biggest trade bloc and Britain’s $2.7 trillion economy.

The EU has already dismissed this as “cherry-picking”, but May pointed out that each of the bloc’s existing trade deals with other countries was slightly different.

Stephen Martin, director general of the Institute of Directors, said: “Business leaders will welcome the Prime Minister’s honest admission that negotiating the future UK-EU relationship will involve making hard choices”.

The need to fudge a United Kingdom position squaring the contradictory demands of her ministers meant the extracts released by her office hints at where she could compromise: for example, making the protection of jobs one of her key goals in the negotiations.

Her long-awaited speech on her Brexit negotiating stance comes at a point of growing friction between London and Brussels and as she faces widening divisions at all levels of her party on the subject.

On Wednesday Business Insider reported that eight Remain-supporting Conservative MPs had signed an amendment to one of May’s Brexit bills that could force the government to form a new customs union with the EU after Brexit.

“For example, we may choose to commit some areas of our regulations like state aid and competition to remaining in step with the EU’s”.

She also said Britain will seek to remain part of some European Union agencies, such as those governing medicines and aviation safety.

A government source said the speech was aimed at showing more pragmatism in the Brexit talks, which are now even struggling over the relatively easier part of agreeing a transition period after Britain leaves in March next year.

She also said “we are in the process” of turning the agreement of the terms of divorce achieved last December agreement into draft legal text .

The pound had softened on Barnier’s warnings the previous day that a transition deal was not a given and the row over the EU’s draft on Ireland has also reminded investors that failure to strike a divorce deal could be disruptive.