On day one of Brexit proceedings, the UK says time is needed to carry out the changes it wants to, but says it will keep some EU laws.
ADVERTISEMENTDay one into Brexit proceedings and the UK minister responsible for ensuring a smooth divorce from the EU has hit the ground running.
The UK has drawn up a Great Repeal Bill to remove or replace thousands of EU laws ranging from the environment to workers’ rights.
But, perhaps the overriding message from David Davis was the need for time.
“You can’t just change 40 years in two years. And to give us time over the coming years to change everything that we want to, we won’t want to change everything, there are lots of parts of European law that are good, lots we approve of but there will be some things we want to put right. And we will take our time over it. And parliament will have the time, mostly after we’ve left the European Union, to correct anything it wants to”
Outlining key points to negotiate, Davis said he didn’t expect Britain to have to pay the suggested Brexit bill of up to 60 billion euros.
He also stressed that the prime minister’s indication about cooperation on terrorism being weakened if no EU-UK deal was struck was not a threat.
Theresa May’s words provoked anger among some in Brussels, who said security was too important of an issue to be used as a bargaining chip.