Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what estimate he has made of the length of discussions on the EU trade deal.

After we leave the EU, the UK hopes to enjoy a deep and special partnership with the European Union, taking in both economic and security cooperation. This will enable prosperity for both the UK and the EU, and allow us to protect our shared European values. We want to have reached agreement about our future partnership by the time the two year Article 50 process has ended, in March 2019. From that point, we believe a time-limited, phased process of implementation will be in our mutual interests, and will help to minimise disruption on both sides. The exact details of an implementation period will be a matter for negotiation.