Last week, Theresa May’s U.K. government published the long-awaited Brexit white paper that outlines the future relationship between the U.K. and the EU. The document, entitled The Future Relationship Between the United Kingdom and The European Union, focuses on a “principled Brexit” with five key objectives that will govern a post-Brexit U.K.-EU relationship. The white paper also refers to an economic and a security partnership with the EU. The five key objectives focus on the economy, the communities, the Union that makes up the U.K., democracy and the U.K.’s place in the world.
For the economy, the document stresses “developing a broad and deep economic relationship with the EU that maximizes future prosperity in line with the modern Industrial Strategy and minimizes disruption to trade between the U.K. and the EU, protecting jobs and livelihoods – at the same time making the most of trading opportunities around the world.”
However, it seems that Brexit even dominated the official visit of U.S. President Donald Trump. In an exclusive interview with the Sun newspaper on Friday, Trump accused the PM of wrecking Brexit — and warned she may have killed off any chance of a vital U.S. trade deal. He warned her that any attempts to maintain close ties with the EU would make a lucrative U.S. trade deal very unlikely.
“If they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the U.K., so it will probably kill the deal,” Trump said.
These remarks must have disappointed the U.K. Prime Minister as she recalled the president's "brutal" advice to her on solving Brexit on Sunday.
"He said I should sue the EU," she said with a wry smile. That won't happen of course,” she said, but the president's initial concern over the U.K.'s ability to strike free trade deals cannot be dismissed so easily, according to Sky News.
One way or another, May’s Brexit plan is still very debatable at a time when she is still trying hard to control the minority of hard Brexiteers. On the other hand, most Conservative Party MP’s seem to support her plan, as they have very few alternatives except a hard Brexit proposed by the former foreign secretary who resigned last week. However, if May’s Brexit plan falters, or proves to be unworkable over the next few months, much more pressure could mount for a second referendum or another early election could loom.
So far Justine Greening, the former education secretary, on Monday announced the need for another EU referendum. Contrarily, May’s spokesperson on Monday said the British public would not "under any circumstances" be given a second chance to vote on Brexit. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that May had previously ruled out the early elections of 2016. The next couple of months will prove to be decisive for not only Brexit and EU relations, but also the political landscape of the country.