British Prime Minister Theresa May has given the strongest indication yet that her Government is likely to prioritise placing limits on immigration over retaining access to Europe's free trade zone when it leaves the EU.

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In her first interview of the New Year, Ms May said Britain could not expect to hold onto "bits" of its EU membership when it leaves, suggesting that Britain will end up withdrawing from the single market and then trying to quickly negotiate a free trade deal with the European Union.

In around 10 weeks time, Ms May has promised she will trigger article 50, the mechanism which begins the negotiation process for a country leaving the EU.

One of the big questions has been whether the UK would try and negotiate to stay in the single market — the EU's free trade zone.

The big European nations have so far been clear — you cannot have free movement of goods and services without free movement of people.

As far as Ms May is concerned, the days of free movement between the EU and the UK will soon be over.

"I've consistently said that the referendum vote was a vote for us to change that freedom of movement, it was a vote for us to bring control into our immigration system for people coming from the European Union," Ms May said.

"There's a variety of ways in which that can be done but I'm clear that that is part of what we need to deliver."

When pressed by Sky News' Sophy Ridge whether she would prioritise controlling immigration over access to the single market, Ms May said she would not try and "keep bits of membership of the EU".

"Because I think often people talk in terms as if somehow we're leaving the EU but we still want to kind of keep bits of membership of the EU," she said.

"We're leaving. We're coming out. We're not going to be a member of the EU any longer.

"But of course we still want the best possible deal for us — companies to be able to trade, UK companies to be able to trade in and operate within the European Union."

Her comments suggest Ms May is banking on a fast-tracked free trade deal with the EU once Brexit is complete, but it may not be easy.

Sir Ivan Rogers, who last week resigned as the UK's ambassador to the EU, previously told ministers that such a deal could take a decade to negotiate.

'We voted to stay': Scotland

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said any move away from the single market would trigger a second independence referendum.

"They will be making a big mistake if they think that I'm in any way bluffing," she said.

"Here we are, we voted to stay in the EU, we were told that voting 'no' was they only way we could stay in the EU, and we now face being taken out of the EU."

To further add to complexity surrounding Brexit, later this month the UK's Supreme Court is due to hand down its decision on whether the Parliament rather than Ms May has the power to trigger article 50 and the negotiating process.

If the court decides the Parliament should decide, it could delay Ms May's timeline for Brexit.

