U.K.'s May lays out full EU break, but with rapport

British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech Tuesday about leaving the European Union at Lancaster House in London.
British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech Tuesday about leaving the European Union at Lancaster House in London.

LONDON --More than six months after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, British Prime Minister Theresa May finally spelled out what it means: The U.K. will make a clean break from the EU and leave its single market of about 500 million people.

In a long-awaited speech, May said the U.K. wants to free itself from EU governance and stop paying millions into its budget but still remain friends, allies and tariff-free trading partners with the bloc's remaining 27 nations.

"We seek a new and equal partnership -- between an independent, self-governing, global Britain and our friends and allies in the EU," May said in a speech to diplomats and dignitaries. "Not partial membership of the European Union, associate membership of the European Union, or anything that leaves us half in, half out."

She continued, "We want to buy your goods and services, sell you ours, trade with you as freely as possible, and work with one another to make sure we are all safer, more secure and more prosperous through continued friendship.

"You will still be welcome in this country as we hope our citizens will be welcome in yours," she said.

Politicians in the "Leave" camp praised the speech, in which May provided more details of the path ahead for the split with the EU -- and vowed that the U.K. would remain "a great global trading nation" open to business and talent from around the world.

Others called May's vision wildly ambitious, like a divorcing couple who hope to remain best friends, share the kids and keep each other's front door keys.

"This is rather like a divorce rather than 'friends.' And then the question is, divorces can be handled very well or very, very badly," said Tony Travers, director of British government studies at the London School of Economics.

Travers said the U.K. was hoping its friends in the EU will say "let's make it gentle, let's not -- as with a bad divorce -- give all the money to the lawyers."

Tim Farron, leader of Britain's opposition Liberal Democrats, called May's speech "a mixture of vague fantasies and toothless threats to our nearest neighbors."

"Theresa May has confirmed Britain is heading for a hard Brexit," Farron said, using the popular term for the British exit. "She claimed people voted to leave the single market. They didn't. She has made the choice to do massive damage to the British economy."

The Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn accused May's Conservative Party of turning the U.K. into "a bargain-basement tax haven," with its recent threat to slash corporate taxes if a good deal cannot be reached with the EU.

In her 40-minute address, May said the U.K. would leave the EU single market of some 500 million people, but "seek the greatest possible access to it through a new, comprehensive, bold and ambitious free trade agreement."

She said there would be no attempt to cling to bits of EU membership. The U.K. will "bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in Britain," May said. It also will impose controls on the number of people coming to the U.K. from EU member countries, abandoning the bloc's principle of free movement.

May promised for the first time that the British Parliament would be able to vote on the final deal reached between the U.K. and the EU, likely in 2019.

The speech received mixed reactions within the EU, whose leaders largely have lamented the U.K.'s decision to leave.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the speech had "created a little bit more clarity about the British plans." French far-right leader Marine Le Pen of the National Front described it as "courageous" and respecting the will of the British people.

European Council President Donald Tusk described it on Twitter as a "sad process, surrealistic times but at least more realistic announcement." He said the 27 other EU nations were "united and ready to negotiate" once the U.K. formally starts the two-year process of talks by invoking Article 50 of the EU's membership treaty.

The U.K. is quitting the single market in order to gain control over immigration -- a key issue for many voters who backed the "Leave" campaign. EU leaders say the U.K. can't stay in the single market without allowing the free movement of people from the bloc into the U.K.

May was firm on the immigration question, but softened the message by saying she wants to allow EU citizens already in the U.K. to stay.

May plans to trigger the starting gun for exit talks by March 31. The court is to rule this month.

After delivering her speech, May called key EU leaders one by one as she began the process of selling her plan to members of the bloc.

Speaking by phone from London, May told her German and French counterparts as well as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Tusk that while the U.K. would be leaving the EU single market, it still wanted "the greatest possible access" in the form of a free-trade agreement, her office said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

The statement said her clarity was welcomed by Tusk, who said he would negotiate in a "spirit of good will."

Information for this article was contributed by Jill Lawless, Danica Kirka, Josh Lederman and Sylvia Hui of The Associated Press; by Stephen Castle, Steven Erlanger, Melissa Eddy and James Kanter of The New York Times; and by Tim Ross of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 01/18/2017

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