Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether he intends to formally enter discussions on a future trade deal with the EU before the UK leaves the EU.

Article 50 states that the process for withdrawal will take account of the ‘framework’ of the leaving Member State’s future relationship with the EU, and there is a clear connection between the terms of our withdrawal and the future relationship that we want to establish.

We do not want to get ahead of the negotiations or set out unilateral positions. How we take the process forward will be a matter for discussion with the EU institutions and our European partners.

But given what is on the face of Article 50 and the connections between our withdrawal and our future relationship, it is our intention to seek to deal with both sets of issues together wherever possible, something that would clearly be in the interests of the EU as well as the UK.