Britain threatens to undercut EU if Brexit plans fail

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Britain warned Sunday it might undercut the EU economically if it cannot obtain both single market access and immigration controls, as Prime Minister Theresa May prepared her big Brexit strategy speech.

Britain would be forced to "change our economic model" in order to remain competitive if it is shut out from access to the single market, finance minister Philip Hammond said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during an address to members of the Charity Commission for England and Wales at The Royal Society in central London on January 9, 2017. /CFP Photo

His intervention came as newspapers said May was planning a clean divorce from the European Union when she sets out her Brexit strategy in a major speech on Tuesday.

May aims to launch two years of EU departure negotiations when she triggers the Article 50 exit process by the end of March, although a legal challenge is still pending before the country's Supreme Court.

British Prime Minister Theresa May warned that mainstream politicians must increase their efforts to tackle inequality and concerns about globalization, or risk losing power to the "politics of division" on January 9,2017.‍ / CFP Photo

May has been under pressure to reveal her proposals for the talks that will establish the future relationship between Britain and the EU.

Matching reports in several weekly newspapers said she was prepared to accept a so-called "hard Brexit": pulling out of the single market, the European customs union and the European Court of Justice, in order to regain control of EU immigration.

(Source: AFP)