Theresa May denies that hard Brexit is inevitable

Prime Minister Theresa May has said it was wrong to assume the government was pursuing a “hard Brexit”, highlighting that it was simply her priority to deliver a “really good, ambitious trade deal.”

In an interview with Sky News, May denied that the UK would face a “binary choice” between curbing immigration and having preferential access to the bloc’s single market. This was after sterling spiralled to a 10-week low following comments interpreted as a signal that May would prioritise border controls over EU market access.

Whilst critics have argued it will be difficult for Britain to secure access to the single market as well as retain full control of the UK’s borders, May told Sky news she doesn’t believe it is a binary issue.

“We will outside the European Union be able to have control of immigration and be able to set our rules for people coming to the UK from member states of the European Union but we also as part of that Brexit deal will be working to get the best possible deal in the trading relationship with the European Union.” she said.

When asked if her earlier comments had been interpreted wrongly, May said: “I’m tempted to say that the people who are getting it wrong are those who print things saying I’m talking about a hard Brexit, (that) it is absolutely inevitable there’s a hard Brexit.

“I don’t accept the terms hard and soft Brexit. What we’re doing is going to get an ambitious, good and best possible deal for the United Kingdom in terms of … trading with and operating within the single European market,” she said.

“I’m ambitious for the sort of relationship we can have with the EU when we leave membership of the EU, but we mustn’t think of this as sort of leaving the EU and trying to keep bits of membership, what bits of membership will we keep,” she added.

“It’s a new relationship, we’ll be outside the EU, we will have a new relationship but I believe that can be a relationship which has a good trading deal at its heart.”