Britain will quit the EU single market when it leaves the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday, in a decisive speech that set a course for a clean break with the world's largest trading bloc. Setting out a vision that could determine Britain's future for generations and the shape of the EU itself, May answered criticism that she has been coy about her strategy with a 12-point plan towards what has been dubbed a "hard Brexit".
May promised to seek the greatest possible access to European markets, but said Britain would aim to establish its own free trade deals with countries far beyond Europe, and impose limits on immigration from the continent.
For the first time, she acknowledged that those measures would require withdrawing from the market of 500 million people, founded on principles of free movement of goods and people.
"I want to be clear: What I am proposing cannot mean membership of the single market," said May, who was catapulted into the premiership after Britain voted in June to leave the EU. "Instead we seek the greatest possible access to it through a new comprehensive, bold and ambitious free trade agreement."
The media had been briefed on some of the points in May's speech since Sunday, and the expectation she would signal a hard Brexit had caused the pound to fall on currency markets from the start of this week.
However, markets rallied during the speech itself, especially when she made a new announcement that parliament would be given a vote on the final terms of Britain's exit, seen as a steadying influence. Sterling rose 2.9 percent against the dollar on the day, the biggest single day rally since at least 1998.
The Brexit talks are expected to be one of the most complicated negotiations in post-World War Two European history, and the view in Brussels is that her goal of wrapping up a trade deal in two years is ambitious.
May's task will be further complicated by internal dissent within the United Kingdom, notably in Scotland, where a majority voted to remain in the EU.