'˜Brexit deal must allow Britain to strike ambitious agreements'

As the full Cabinet came together to discuss for the first time the UK’s preferred “end state” for its future relationship with the EU, the Prime Minister insisted she was confident of achieving a result which will lead to a dynamic post-Brexit economy delivering growth, jobs and prosperity.

Her official spokesman said Mrs May’s message was backed by the whole Cabinet at the meeting in 10 Downing Street, though no formal position is expected to be agreed for some time, with further discussions scheduled for the new year.

In the 105-minute meeting yesterday, the Cabinet did not discuss the position set out so far by the European Commission’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier, whose vision of a free-trade agreement similar to that struck with Canada in 2016 differs sharply from Mrs May’s demand for a bespoke UK deal delivering a “deep and special partnership”.

In comments to a number of European newspapers, including The Guardian, Mr Barnier said there would be no special arrangement to allow City firms to trade freely in the EU if Britain leaves the single market.

“There is no place (for financial services),” he said. “There is not a single trade agreement that is open to financial services. It doesn’t exist.”

Describing the position as a result of “the red lines that the British have chosen themselves”, he stated: “In leaving the single 
market, they lose the financial services passport.”

Mrs May’s spokesman said the PM told the Cabinet that she was seeking “a significantly more ambitious deal than the EU’s agreement with Canada”.

And she ruled out the option of a Norway-style membership of the European Economic Area as “democratically unsustainable” because it would mean the UK having automatically to observe rules and regulations over which it had no influence.

The PM’s spokesman said she told Ministers that the starting point for discussing the UK’s preferred end state was her 
own speeches at Lancaster House and in Florence earlier this year, in which she ruled out membership of the single market and customs union, but voiced her hope for a new “deep and special partnership” spanning the economic and security relationship with the EU.

She told the Cabinet it was clear that the Government was seeking “a deal which secures the best possible trading terms with the EU, enables the UK to set rules which are right for our situation and facilitates ambitious third-country trade deals”, said the spokesman.

Britain would need to be “creative” in designing proposals for a future economic partnership, Mrs May said.

And she said the positions adopted by the Government would be in the national interest, adding that she was “confident of building a dynamic post-Brexit economy which will deliver growth, jobs, prosperity and a better future”.

Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a leading supporter of the Open Britain campaign for close ties with the EU, said: “It is disgraceful and a dereliction of duty that the Cabinet has only today – 18 months after the referendum –had an opening full discussion about what our future relationship with Europe should look like.

“The problem is clear. The Cabinet cannot agree among themselves about what Brexit outcome they want beyond an unrealistic ambition to have cake and eat it.

“Going into the most complex negotiations in modern British history without a clear plan of action is irresponsible.”