CER reaction to Prime Minister Theresa May's 'Road to Brexit' speech

“Theresa May’s speech was serious. It was good that she recognised that the UK faces trade-offs and will lose some access to the single market. But the EU will see her demands on goods, such as mutual recognition in some areas, and on services like finance and media, as cherry-picking. She assumes the EU will see the economic case for close relations governed by mutual rule-making – if only,” said Charles Grant, director of the CER.

“Theresa May is trying to find a Goldilocks trade deal. She wants to make parliament and the British courts sovereign, but also to protect UK-EU trade. So she has advanced a plan that the EU will not accept. Ultimately, the EU will say no to her suggestions for a very broad and deep free trade agreement, and we are heading for something much more economically damaging – unless she changes her red lines,” said John Springford, deputy director of CER.

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The Centre for European Reform @CER_EU is a think-tank devoted to making the EU work better and strengthening its role in the world. The CER is pro-European but not uncritical.