29 March 2018•Update: 29 March 2018
By Muhammad Mussa
LONDON
Prime Minister Theresa May embarked on a tour across the U.K. on Thursday, only a year before the Brexit date of March 29, 2019, visiting communities from different regions.
She reiterated her pledge of delivering a Brexit which will be a success for everyone and called for unity across the country after the U.K. leaves the EU after decades of membership.
Her visits came on the first anniversary of the triggering of the Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which officially initiated the withdrawal from the European club.
“Today, one year until the U.K. leaves the EU and begins to chart a new course in the world, I am visiting all four nations of the Union to hear from people across our country what Brexit means to them,” she said.
“I am determined that as we leave the EU, and in the years ahead, we will strengthen the bonds that unite us, because ours is the world’s most successful union.”
The prime minister’s first stop was in Scotland where she argued that Brexit would result in powers returning from Brussels and equally distributed throughout the four regions of the U.K.
“Each of the devolved nations will see an increase in their decision-making powers,” she said.
“It is my mission to deliver a Brexit deal that works for Scotland and the whole of the U.K., and today I’ve been speaking to workers here in Ayr about what our departure from the EU means to them.”
May also paid a visit to farmers in Northern Ireland, reiterating her pledge to uphold the 1997 Good Friday Agreement that brought an end to decades of sectarian violence in the region.
Assurances to Northern Ireland
On the future of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland -- one of the stickiest points in Brexit negotiations, May said she wants “to reassure the people of Northern Ireland about my commitment to avoid a hard border and protect the Belfast Agreement”.
A total of 56 percent people in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU during the 2016 referendum.
Although both the U.K. and the EU have agreed on a draft text introduced by the EU on the terms of the transition phase, some issues such as the Irish border’s future are still to be addressed.
The EU has approved a draft text of guidelines for future trade relations with the U.K. after Brexit last week.
The members of the EU have formally signed off the negotiating guidelines for the next phase of Brexit talks between the parties. They have given a green light to talks over the bloc’s future relationship with Britain for the first time.
The text lays out a limited, agreed-on transition period that will follow the Brexit date of March 29, 2019. The transition period terms have been agreed on, said the chief EU and U.K. Brexit negotiators on Monday.
According to the latest deal, the transition period, will come to an end on Dec. 31, 2021.
It will see the U.K. remaining in the Single Market and the Customs Union, and continuing trade under existing rules and remain within the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
However, the U.K. will be excluded from the decision making process and will have to abide by new rules formulated by the EU.
*Ahmet Gurhan Kartal contributed to this story from London.
