UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces deadline to trigger Article 50

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has announced a March 2017 deadline to start the process of leaving the EU. In her first major speech on Brexit, May said that the UK would become a “fully independent, sovereign” country in the clearest sign yet that she wants a clean break from Europe’s single market.

May has pledged to respect the EU’s rules for leaving the union. Britain will have two years to hammer out a future relationship. May hopes to hold informal negotiations before the procedure formally begins, but EU leaders have so far refused to contemplate “pre-negotiations” before Article 50 is activated.

Regarding access to the single market, May had no clear answers. May said she wanted to give “British companies the maximum freedom to trade and operate in the single market”, but not at the expense of allowing free movement or accepting the jurisdiction of judges in Luxembourg. The European Union however sees the free movement of workers and oversight of a single court as indispensable pillars of a common market.

Pound plunges below $1.29 as Theresa May sets Brexit deadline. FTSE 100 index shrugged-off Brexit process-related worries triggered by May’s speech, spiked to its highest levels since June 2015 on the back of all-share merger news between fund management firms Janus Capital and Henderson Group.