UK takes two steps forward, one step back on Brexit plan

Bloomberg

The semblance of unity behind a life-as-normal and business-as-usual Brexit didn’t last.
With Prime Minister Theresa May away on holiday, her chancellor of the exchequer went out on a limb to say a consensus was forming around a three-year transition phase, during which little would change about the UK’s relationship with the European Union even past 2019, when the two sides formally break up.
But that vision of harmony was shattered almost immediately. Trade Secretary Liam Fox used a Sunday Times interview to pour cold water on Philip Hammond’s claims that he and other senior ministers had gone soft and agreed to allow the free movement of people to last beyond the two-year negotiations.
It would “not keep faith” with voters’ decision to leave in the 2016 referendum, he said, adding pointedly: “I have not been involved in any discussion on that.”
May’s spokesman, James Slack, told reporters on Monday that free movement will end in March 2019 and that it would be “wrong” to suggest “that free movement will continue as it is now.” He also said that May’s position on an implementation period“ are very clear and well known: It is in no one’s interests for there to be a cliff edge.”
“We have said that it will take time to get immigration numbers down but we are committed to doing so,” Slack said. He also said that the transitional period won’t be unlimited, repeating remarks made by May in January. Former Brexit minister David Jones and Gerard Lyons, a pro-Brexit economist, also joined the attack in a sign that the war among the ruling Conservatives is unresolved.