Theresa May Florence speech live updates: PM pleas to stay in the Single Market for two years after Brexit

What will be in Theresa May's big Brexit speech?

Theresa May has proposed remaining in the single market for a transition period of around two years after Brexit.

In a landmark Brexit speech in Florence, the Prime Minister said existing market arrangements should continue to apply during a two-year implementation period after Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019.

She indicated freedom of movement would also continue during the transition but workers coming into the UK would go through a "registration system".

Ms May said: "Clearly people, businesses and public services should only have to plan for one set of changes in the relationship between the UK and the EU.

"So during the implementation period access to one another’s markets should continue on current terms and Britain also should continue to take part in existing security measures. And I know businesses, in particular, would welcome the certainty this would provide.

"The framework for this strictly time-limited period, which can be agreed under Article 50, would be the existing structure of EU rules and regulations."

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Key Points

• PM's plea to stay in the Single Market for two years after leaving
• Sterling falls as traders give verdict on May's speech
• Read the Prime Minister's speech in full

[22 September 2017 16:42 · Andrew Griffin]

The European Commission's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has described Theresa May's speech in Florence as "constructive", and said she showed "a willingness to move forward".

That's encouraging, given parts of Ms May's speech appeared to directly contradict Mr Barnier's public comments.

[22 September 2017 17:38 · Kristin Hugo]

Jeremy Corbyn said the Prime Minister's speech had done little to clarify what the Government wants from Brexit.

He said: "Fifteen months after the EU referendum the Government is still no clearer about what our long term relationship with the EU will look like. 

"The only advance seems to be that the Prime Minister has listened to Labour and faced up to the reality that Britain needs a transition on the same basic terms to provide stability for businesses and workers.

“That's because Theresa May and her Conservative cabinet colleagues are spending more time negotiating with each other rather than with the EU.

“The Tories have made clear they want to use Brexit to deregulate and cut taxes for the wealthy. Labour wants a Jobs-First Brexit that uses powers returned from Brussels to invest and upgrade Britain's economy."

[22 September 2017 17:44 · Kristin Hugo]

The Florence speech is getting a more positive reaction from Remainers than from Brexiteers.

Anna Soubry, the former Conservative minister and a prominent pro-EU campaigner, called Theresa May's announcement that the UK would try to stay in the single market during a transitional period "very welcome news". 

Ms Soubry, who has previously been a vocal critic of Ms May, praised the Prime Minister's speech.

She told BBC News: "The Prime Minster, quite properly, has put the interests of the economy and jobs absolutely at the heart of Brexit. She should do and she has done."

[22 September 2017 17:54 · Kristin Hugo]

Nigel Farage, however, was less impressed. The former Ukip leader told Sky News that Ms May's speech showed she wanted to "leave the European Union in name only".

Staying in the single market during a transitional period would be to "rebadge the status quo", he said.

Mr Farage said he expected a transition period of two years to become "many, many times more than that".

[22 September 2017 18:17 · Kristin Hugo]

Guy Verhofstadt, the EU Parliament's Brexit lead, has said Ms May's proposal for EU citizens entering the UK during a Brexit transition period to have to register is "out of the question".

He said the UK was becoming more "realistic" in its stance on Brexit but said any transition period would have to involve a continuation of all current EU laws - not "cherry-picking" by Britain.