LONDON (AP) The British government released detailed plans today for what it called a principled pragmatic and ambitious Brexit plans that already triggered the resignation of two top ministers and split the governing Conservative Party, and which face likely resistance from the European Union.
The long-awaited document proposes keeping Britain and the EU in a free market for goods, with a more distant relationship for services.
Prime Minister Theresa Mays government is trying to satisfy Britons who voted for their country to leave the bloc, but to set an independent course without hobbling businesses, security agencies and other sectors that are closely entwined with the EU.
But the plan has infuriated fervent Brexit supporters, who think it would limit Britains ability to strike new trade deals around the world. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis both quit the government this week in protest.
The turmoil in Mays government over Brexit has erupted as U.S. President Donald Trump began a four-day visit to Britain. Trump did not exactly give Mays plans a ringing endorsement. I dont know if that is what they voted for, he said.
May insisted her plan was exactly what Britons had voted for in a 2016 EU membership referendum.
They voted for us to take back control of our money, our law and our borders, she said. That is exactly what we will do.
Newly appointed Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said the plans called for an innovative and unprecedented economic partnership between Britain and the EU.
Britain is currently part of the EUs single market which allows for the frictionless flow of goods and services among the 28 member states and its tariff-free customs union for goods. That will end after the U.K. leaves the bloc in March. The plans laid out Thursday in a 98-page government paper give Britains most detailed answer yet to the question of what will replace them.
Under the blueprint, Britain would stick to a common rulebook with the EU for goods and agricultural products in return for free trade, without tariffs or border customs checks. Such a resolution would avoid disruption to automakers and other manufacturers that source parts from multiple countries.
The government said Britain would act as if in a combined customs territory with the EU, using technology at its border to determine whether goods from third countries were bound for Britain or the EU, and charging the appropriate tariffs in those cases.
Britain says that will solve the problem of maintaining an open border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., and EU member Ireland.
Free trade would not apply to services, which account for 80 percent of the British economy. The government said that would give Britain freedom to chart our own path, though it would mean less access to EU markets than there is now.
When the U.K. leaves the EU, it will end the automatic right of EU citizens to live and work in Britain. But Britain said EU nationals should be able to travel visa-free to Britain for tourism or temporary business, and there should be measures allowing young people and students to work and study in Britain.
