May lays out Brexit blueprint, pressing for sweeping trade deal
London — UK Prime Minister Theresa May laid out her most detailed blueprint for a Brexit deal yet as she sought to break the deadlock in talks with the EU. Addressing an audience, including euro-sceptic foreign secretary Boris Johnson in Florence, Italy, she called for a transitional phase lasting about two years to provide businesses and citizens with clarity, and promised the UK would honour its financial commitments during the period. She also pressed for a unique and sweeping trade deal, offered more legal protections for EU citizens residing in Britain, and said there should be deeper security co-operation. "I look ahead with optimism," May said in the great hall of a former monastery in the Tuscan capital. "We want to work hand in hand with the EU rather than as part of the EU." It is May’s first major intervention in the Brexit process since triggering the formal withdrawal under Article 50 of the EU treaty in March, and her first roadmap for the departure since a speech at L...
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