Saturday 29 October 2016

Prime Minister’s statement on last week’s European Council - full speech and analysis

The Prime Minister Theresa May spoke and did a Q+A in the House of Commons on last week's European Council that she attended in Brussels.

In her statement, Mrs May touched upon the discussions she had engaged in with her 27 European counterparts. She began by noting the agreed requirement for a robust European stance in the face of Russian aggression, Russia’s “indiscriminate” bombing of civilians in Aleppo, and the additional atrocities that are occurring in Syria which she described as “utterly horrific”. The Prime Minister also spoke about how the leaders at the European Council agreed that addressing the root causes of mass migration and a focus on championing free trade around the world were the key mutual priorities for our nations.

At the end as Mrs May discussed what she had told the European Council when updating her counterparts on our position on Brexit:

“I made clear at last week’s European Council that my aim is to cement Britain as a close partner of the EU once we have left. I want the deal we negotiate to reflect the kind of mature, co-operative relationship that close friends and allies enjoy.

A deal that will give British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and operate in the European market – and allow European businesses to do the same here. A deal that will deliver the deepest possible co-operation to ensure our national security and the security of our allies. A deal that is in Britain’s interests – and the interests of all our European partners. But it will also be a deal that means we are a fully independent, sovereign nation – able to do what sovereign nations do, which means we will, for example, be free to decide for ourselves how we control immigration.

It will mean our laws are made not in Brussels but here in this Parliament. And that the judges interpreting those laws will sit not in Luxembourg but in courts right here in Britain.”