However Mrs May also indicated that Britain would not be able to sign free trade deals during the two-year transition phase.

And she played down the prospect of EU immigration coming down during the period, saying: “People will be free to come to the UK.”

Last month, Mrs May proposed a Brexit transition that will see Britain formally leave the EU in 2019 but phase in the changes up till 2021.

Asked whether there “could be some divergence” from Brussels rules and regulations during the period, Mrs May said “yes”.

She explained: “There will be some areas of rules and regulations that don’t affect our trading relationship, for example, which may not have an impact on that.

“There are other areas where looking to the future we may have the same goals but think of different ways of achieving them. And then there are others where we may agree both goals and methods of achieving them.”