Daily Times

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May will target a clean divorce from the EU when she sets out her Brexit plans in a major speech this week, newspapers reported Sunday.

In Tuesday’s address, she will call for Britain to unite and get behind Brexit, pleading for an end to the “insults” and rancour between Leavers and Remainers, her Downing Street office said. But newspapers said she would be laying out the path towards a “hard Brexit” — a strategy likely to infuriate embittered Remain voters even more. May will spark two years of Brexit negotiations when she triggers the Article 50 departure process by the end of March.

She has been under pressure to reveal her strategy for the talks that will set out the future relationship between Britain and the European Union. Downing Street would not be drawn on matching reports in several newspapers that she was targeting a “hard Brexit” — pulling out of the single market, the European customs union and the European Court of Justice, in order to regain control of EU immigration. The Sunday Times said May would announce that Britain is seeking a “clean and hard Brexit”, citing the above points. “May’s triple Brexit blast” was how The Sun put it, saying May will “show she means business by announcing a triple whammy departure from the EU”.

The Sunday Telegraph quoted a government source as saying: “She’s gone for the full works. People will know when she said ‘Brexit means Brexit’, she really meant it.” Downing Street would only say the speech would call on Britain to “set aside old divisions, and unite to make a success of Brexit”. While the June referendum on Britain’s EU membership split the country — the Leave campaign won with a 52 percent majority — most Britons share a vision of a future Britain that is “secure, prosperous, outward-looking and tolerant”, said Downing Street.