Deadline set to begin talks on separating from EU

LONDON — Britain will trigger the formal process for leaving the European Union before the end of March, Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday, putting to rest weeks of speculation on the timing of the move.

May outlined her vision for a post-EU Britain at her Conservative Party’s annual conference in Birmingham and took the first steps to making a British exit — or Brexit — a reality.

As her fellow lawmakers applauded wildly, May made it clear that the British people expected to see the moment “on the horizon” when Britain would leave — and that she was going to deliver.

“We will invoke it when we are ready, and we will be ready soon,” she said. “We will invoke Article 50 no later than the end of March next year.”

While the prime minister previously had hinted she planned to initiate Britain’s EU exit early next year, many observers had speculated she would wait until France’s presidential election ends in May or perhaps even the Germany elections, set for the late summer or fall of next year.

Britain voted in a June referendum to leave the EU, but has not formally notified the bloc of its intentions by invoking the article of the EU treaty that would trigger negotiations. Doing so will launch two years of talks to work out the details of Britain’s future relationship with the single market.

The prime minister also said she would ask Parliament to repeal the European Communities Act, which automatically makes EU rules the law of the land in Britain. May said her government instead would incorporate all EU laws into British law and then repeal measures on a case-by-case basis.

“That means that the United Kingdom will be an independent, sovereign nation,” she said. “It will be making its own laws.”

May said that by offering a timetable now, she hopes to encourage the two sides to engage in preliminary work that would help the negotiations go smoothly once they begin.

The president of the 28-nation EU’s governing European Council, Donald Tusk, offered a tweet in support of her position. He had told her at a recent Downing Street meeting that the “ball is now in your court.”

“PM May’s declaration brings welcome clarity on start of Brexit talks,” he tweeted Sunday. “Once Art. 50’s triggered, EU27 will engage to safeguard its interests.”

One of the biggest sticking points in any talks will be immigration. The free movement of labor is a founding principle of the EU, and millions of EU citizens live and work in Britain.