Britain says it wants a swift agreement with the European Union on the principles of a post-Brexit trading relationship to reassure businesses over trading rules after Britain exits the bloc in March 2019.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman said on Tuesday that London believes it can agree quickly with Brussels negotiators on a post-Brexit “implementation period.”
“In terms of the broad outline of an implementation period, we believe that we can agree that quickly,” May’s spokesman said.
“The implementation period is about building a bridge, and obviously in order to do that you need to know what the future relationship is going to look like,” the spokesman added. He did not provide further detail on when Britain hoped to reach such agreement.
London is seeking a so-called implementation period of about two years following its withdrawal from the EU, during which its access to the bloc’s single market would stay mostly…