Theresa May to call for unity in UK as Brexit begins

Theresa May will on Wednesday promise to represent the interests of everyone in the United Kingdom, including European Union nationals, as she starts two years of formal talks to take Britain out of the EU. The prime minister will address the House of Commons at 12.30pm, after she notifies European Council president Donald Tusk of Britain's intention to leave the bloc it joined, along with Ireland, more than four decades ago.

On Tuesday evening Ms May signed the letter that starts the formal exit process which will be hand-delivered on Wednesday by Britain’s ambassador to the EU to Mr Tusk.

“When I sit around the negotiating table in the months ahead, I will represent every person in the whole United Kingdom – young and old, rich and poor, city, town, country, and all the villages and hamlets in between. And yes, those EU nationals who have made this country their home. It is my fierce determination to get the right deal for every single person in this country,” she will tell MPs.

The prime minister will call for the divisions of last year's referendum to be left behind so Britain can unite as it prepares to leave the EU. But the strain Brexit has placed on the constitutional settlement within the United Kingdom was highlighted on Tuesday evening when Scotland's parliament voted in favour of a second referendum on independence.

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Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon wants to hold the referendum between Autumn 2018 and Spring 2019, after the shape of the Brexit deal is known but before Britain has left the EU. But the prime minister, without whose approval the vote cannot be binding, has ruled out a second independence referendum before Brexit has been completed.

Negotiating guidelines

Mr Tusk is expected to issue draft negotiating guidelines for the EU on Friday, which EU leaders will consider at a meeting in Brussels on April 29th before negotiations get under way a few weeks later. The Government hopes that Ireland’s concerns, including the future of the common travel area and the Border, will be addressed early in the talks.

Ms May will tell MPs on Wednesday that Brexit can produce a stronger, fairer Britain that all its citizens can unite around, regardless of how they voted in last year's referendum.

“We all want to live in a truly global Britain that gets out and builds relationships with old friends and new allies around the world,” she will say.

“These are the ambitions of this government’s plan for Britain. Ambitions that unite us, so that we are no longer defined by the vote we cast, but by our determination to make a success of the result.”