British PM refuses to elaborate on negotiating strategy, saying she plans to keep cards close to her chest

For weeks after the EU referendum, the only description Theresa May gave was “Brexit means Brexit”, but now the prime minister has a new slogan - “a red, white and blue Brexit”.

The remark made during May’s visit to the Gulf is a veiled retort at so-called “grey Brexit”, a phrase used to describe a deal reportedly favoured by the chancellor, Philip Hammond, and the Brexit secretary, David Davis: leaving the single market with Canada-style bespoke access to parts of the free trade zone, and limits on immigration apart from for skilled migrants in specific sectors.

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Such a compromise is midway between a “black Brexit”, a cliff-edge scenario for businesses and financial services in which the government left the article 50 talks without a future deal with the EU, and a “white Brexit”, which would see the UK attempt to remain in the single market.



May dismissed any suggestion that the government was using such language. “I’m interested in all these terms that have been identified – hard Brexit, soft Brexit, black Brexit, white Brexit, grey Brexit – and actually what we should be looking for is a red, white and blue Brexit,” she told reporters during her two-day trip to the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) in Bahrain.

“That is the right deal for the United Kingdom, what is going to be the right relationship for the UK with the European Union once we’ve left. That’s what we’re about, that’s what we’ll be working on.”

Speaking to the BBC onboard HMS Ocean in Bahrain, before several meetings with Gulf leaders, May said: “I’m going to keep some cards close to my chest, I’m sure everybody would realise that in a negotiation you don’t give everything away. It’s important that we are able to achieve the right deal for the UK.”

May’s comments came on the same day the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator said Britain will have less than 18 months to negotiate its departure, and warned that any future deal would be inferior to the relationship the UK has as a member.

Michel Barnier said “time will be very short” to negotiate Britain’s exit, because the final months of the two-year period would be needed to allow the European council, the European parliament and the UK government to approve the agreement.

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The Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, called the slogan “jingoistic claptrap” and said it showed no further policy development. “The prime minister has surpassed herself with this statement,” Farron said.

“If this Conservative government cared about Britain and cared about what makes our country great they would not be running headlong towards a hard Brexit like this. It doesn’t matter what colour she tries to paint this, her plans for Brexit will wreck the economy.

“This government wants to pull us out of the single market, customs union, which would wreck the economy and blow a £220bn black hole in the budget. The union jack represents an open, tolerant, multicultural Britain, not the narrow-minded vision of Ukip and Farage.”

Jenny Chapman, the shadow minister for exiting the EU said: “The government can call it whatever colours they like – the fact is, their plan for Brexit is completely blank.

“Every indication so far is that the prime minister will seek a hard and damaging Brexit, with Britain outside the single market and the customs union. This would be bad for the economy, for business and for jobs.

“What we need to see is a plan and a strategy, and the government seeking to build consensus around it. They can do that by publishing their basic plan before article 50 is triggered, as Labour will again be calling for tomorrow.”

During her visit to HMS Ocean, May also praised the diplomatic role of the Royal Navy, which she suggested she wished to build up after Brexit.

Addressing 300 troops on the deck of the 21,500-tonne helicopter carrier in Bahrain’s Khalifa Bin Salman Port, the prime minister said: “As Britain steps up to forge a new, positive, confident role for our country on the global stage, the Royal Navy will be an important part of our vision – pursing our objectives of security on land and at sea and helping to ensure the free flow of international trade.”

May has three bilateral meetings with Gulf leaders on Tuesday to discuss deepening trade and security ties. She told the BBC she would also raise human rights issues in the talks with leaders including the kings of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

“I will be talking to them about the opportunities for trade, I’ll be talking to them about building on our longstanding relationships to ensure security here in the Gulf. Gulf security is our security, and, yes I will raise issues about human rights and I’m able to do that precisely because we have a relationship, we have an engagement with these countries,” May said.

The UK has already announced greater security cooperation with the GCC, which May will address in a speech on Wednesday morning.

Amnesty International and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy have raised concerns that new surveillance capabilities would also be used to monitor pro-democracy activists and journalists.

Amnesty’s foreign affairs analyst Polly Truscott said: “Given the Gulf’s track record in using surveillance technologies to repress civil society, it’s imperative that the UK doesn’t facilitate any surveillance operations where there’s a clear risk they’ll be used to crack down even further on the region’s beleaguered human rights activists.

“The UK must demonstrate how any such assistance is compatible with existing laws and standards on preventing human rights abuses.”