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Closed We must leave the EU completely in March 2019 - No transition period, No delay

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Theresa May is betraying the British people who voted to leave the EU by making the UK stay in until 2021 and paying billions of pounds to the EU while we stay. No immigration control, no border control, no sovereignty - an absolute betrayal of the 17 million voters who chose to leave.

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  • Petition closed

  • Government responded to this petition

    As the Prime Minister said in Florence ‘the United Kingdom will cease to be a member of the European Union on 29th March 2019.’ An implementation period does not mean postponing Brexit.

    Read the response in full

    The Government’s position has been very clear - the country voted to leave the EU, and there must be no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts to rejoin it through the back door, and no second referendum.

    We are delivering on the decision of the British people; this does not
    change because of the implementation period.

    A strictly time-limited implementation period will form a sound basis for
    the UK’s future prosperity, delivering certainty to individuals and
    businesses as we move towards our future relationship. It will enable us
    to exit the EU in a smooth and orderly way, with minimum disruption for
    businesses and citizens.

    To provide this certainty, the implementation period will be based on the
    existing structure of EU rules and regulations. But it is important that we
    make sure UK interests are represented during the period. As such, we
    want to agree with the EU a way of discussing any new laws that are
    brought in, if we think they would be harmful to our interests. This would
    help ensure the implementation period operates smoothly, allowing us to
    resolve any issues promptly.

    We have been clear that this period should be guided by how long it will
    take to prepare and implement the new processes required for when we
    leave the EU. At the moment, this points to a period of around two
    years.

    The implementation period will not delay our leaving the EU - we will
    leave on 29th March 2019. This is absolutely necessary as the EU can
    only legally conclude our future partnership once we are no longer a
    Member State.

    In addition, it is only once we have left the EU that we can take
    advantage of our status as an independent trading nation. During the
    implementation period, we will be able negotiate and sign new trade
    deals for the first time in more than 40 years. These deals will not be
    brought into effect until after the implementation period has concluded.
    The petition references ‘paying billions of pounds to the EU whilst we
    stay.’ The United Kingdom will cease to be a member of the European
    Union on 29th March 2019. An implementation period does not change
    this. We have agreed a fair financial settlement with the EU. We will
    honour our share of the commitments made during our membership but
    will see the end of vast sums of money going to the EU every year. Soon
    we will see significant savings from our payments to the EU compared to
    what we would have given had we stayed in.

    Department for Exiting the European Union

  • Government will respond to this petition

    This petition got more than 10,000 signatures meaning that government will respond to it.

  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 29 March 2018.