Brexit still means Brexit, for now

Theresa May in Florence, Labour in Brighton, and tuition fees on the front pages again.

On Friday 22 September, the prime minister took the unusual step of travelling to the Italian city of Florence to address an audience of British journalists in order to give her most significant speech to date on Britain’s exit from the European Union. The speech was once again short on detail and big on aspiration. The take-away message was that the UK government would now like a two-year transition period after Article 50 takes effect on 31 March 2019.

This of course needs to be agreed by the EU and is not certain to happen. However, it is an acknowledgement that there is no prospect of all the logistics of the UK’s departure from the EU being agreed in the negotiation period determined by the decision to trigger Article 50 in March. Despite the upbeat messages from Florence, the request for a transition period is a recognition that the government was premature in its desire to be seen to be respecting the outcome of the June 2017 referendum result by pressing the Brexit button.