Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, if his Department still plans to complete negotiations on the UK leaving the EU by April 2019.

Article 50 sets out a two year period to agree a withdrawal agreement with the EU, and we are confident we can achieve an outcome that works in the interests of both sides by the end of March 2019.

The Prime Minister’s speech in Florence also made clear that we are proposing a strictly time-limited implementation period where we continue to have access to one another’s markets on current terms and take part in existing security measures. We expect this to last for a period of around two years. And it should be agreed as early as possible to avoid uncertainty.

While the UK’s departure from the European Union is inevitably a complex process, it is in all of our interests for these negotiations to succeed. Approaching each round with flexibility and imagination is the only way we’ll achieve a deal that truly works for both sides.