Hard Brexit: Theresa May to announce withdrawal from single market to get 'clean break' from EU

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The Prime Minister will also call for “an end to the division” which has maintained a hold over the country since the referendum, in a speech which is expected to give the most detailed insight yet into her approach to the forthcoming talks with Brussels.

But the reported announcements – which indicate a hard Brexit – have worried Remain campaigners, who branded it as an “an incredibly reckless move” by the Prime Minister, and one which she did not have a proper mandate for. 

Ms May is expected to say that the UK will regain full control of its borders, even at the price of single market membership, and leave the customs union in order to pursue international trade deals, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

In addition, Ms May is likely to say that the European Court of Justice will no longer bind UK laws, something which the Prime Minster has been in favour of since her Home Office days. 

A source familiar with the plans told the Telegraph: “She’s gone for the full works. People will know when she said ‘Brexit means Brexit’, she really meant it.” 

Remain campaigners hit back on Saturday night. “There are millions of people of Britain now getting the hard Brexit not on the ballot and for which they never voted,” said Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron. 

"This speech proves that Theresa May is driving the country towards a divisive and destructive exit from the European Union.

Theresa May will make her biggest speech yet on Brexit. Getty Images

"If the UK had voted 52-48 to remain you can bet that Theresa May would never be pushing towards a hard Remain. There would be no embracing of the Euro, no joining the Schengen Zone. But the Prime Minister seems hell bent on ripping up everything we share with the European Union no matter how damaging that is to the UK.

"This is an incredibly reckless move by Theresa May. It will harm the country for generations to come. The Conservatives once claimed to be the party of business, that record is in tatters."

Criticism also came from within Ms May’s own party. Anna Soubry, who campaigned to remain in the European Union, told Sky News: "The Government has no mandate for this. To go into the negotiation conceding on the single market and the customs union is extremely serious and very bad news."

Ms May will also use the occasion to announce her vision for a “Global Britain” which is open to the world and will seek to build a positive relationship with its former partners in the EU.