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ThakurSahab
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Prime Minister Theresa May's speech on her government's plans for Britain's exit from the EU was many things at once - a declaration of inent, a warning, a motivational talk and a balancing act with several contradictions. She painted the first stroke on the negotiation canvas:Britain had chosen a "hard Brexit". It would leave the single market and with it gain more control over its borders and its laws, some of which are currently under the oversight of the European Courts of Justice. This, Ms. May said, is what the people had chosen.At the same time, the U.K. would seek to negotiate a deal that wouold give it as much access to the single market without being a part of it.
It would seek a modified customs union membership to be able to negotiate its own trade treaties with non-EU countries, and build what the Prime Minister called a "truly global Britain". This vision had been built up by Ms. May since the June 2016 refrendum, and her speech reiterated it was the alternative, and better, future that awaited Britain. The Prime Minister pushed and pulled at the EU, with praise and warning.
Ms. May spoke of her country's good intentions for the continent and her optimism for a good deal with Europe, but said she would accept a no-deal over a bad one. She warned that it would be "calamitously" harmful to Europe if it penalized the U.K. for leaving. She spoke of wanting to strike a trade deal with the EU bur hinted that if it did not get a good deal the U.K. had rest of the world to trade with, and the biggest investors". Ms. May, who was herself a "Remainer", is trying to make the most of the referendum results for the U.K., and this is her job.It is in this context that her speech must be seen.