Why Brexit Is Work in Progress Six Months Later: QuickTake Q&A
May: Britain Must Face Up to Period of Momentous Change
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May entered 2017 with just three months to meet her self-imposed deadline to trigger divorce talks with the European Union. In a much-anticipated speech on Jan. 17, she outlined her vision for what her Brexit secretary, David Davis, has called possibly “the most complicated negotiation of all time.” And that was before Parliament won the right to weigh in.
Though Britain voted in June 2016 to leave the EU, May has stalled on starting two years of formal talks. She’s wanted time to prepare a negotiating stance. The EU has stuck to its line that it won’t hold even informal discussions until the U.K. triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which governs withdrawal from the bloc. And there was disagreement on who, exactly, has the power to invoke it.