London - Theresa May is likely to outline the Government’s negotiating priorities on Brexit in a speech to business bosses next week.
The Prime Minister is expected to outline what relationship Whitehall is seeking sector-by-sector when she speaks to the Confederation of British Industry a week on Monday.
The government has been coy about its aims in European Union talks, saying revealing its hand would weaken its negotiating position. It has been suggested that the UK could try to stay within the customs union for manufactured goods or just for the car industry, where supply chains are strung out across the Continent.
Experts said Ministers could try to get an “enhanced equivalence” deal on financial services too, which would enable UK banks and insurers to cater to continental clients when their single market “passporting” rights fall away.
EU rules allow countries with regulations that are equivalent to its own to offer some financial services to EU clients without hindrance. A paper published earlier this month by think-tank Politeia outlined a possible “enhanced equivalence” negotiating stance for the City.
Iain Anderson, chairman of financial services lobbying firm Cicero, said: “Equivalence has many critics because it can be unpicked at will by the EU, but the Politeia paper does take the debate on in a positive way.”
Mail On Sunday