British Minister of State for Energy Andrea Leadsom, one of five candidates to succeed British Prime Minister David Cameron, yesterday said she would be quick to start the process of negotiating the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU.
Asked when she would trigger Article 50, the step that will formally begin the process, Leadsom declined to give an exact framework, but made clear she thought it should happen as quickly as possible.
“We need to get on with it, we need to seize the opportunity,” she told BBC television. “It’s about giving certainty to businesses, it’s about saying to the world ‘we’re open for business.’ Let’s start getting some free trade agreements started as soon as we can. We need to get on with it, we need to get a grip and make progress.”
Photo: AFP
Leadsom, a prominent campaigner for a “Leave” vote ahead of the June 23 referendum which saw Britain vote to quit the EU, has emerged in the early stages of the contest to succeed Cameron as one of strongest candidates from the Brexit camp.
The frontrunner is British Home Secretary Theresa May, who campaigned for a “Remain” vote. May on Thursday said she would not trigger Article 50 this year.
“The next person to lead this country has to somebody who believes in the opportunity of leaving the EU,” Leadsom said.
She added that she was confident Britain could continue to trade tariff-free with EU countries after Brexit.
“I genuinely believe on trade with the EU ... there are very strong reasons both financial and for reasons of links we will continue to trade tariff-free,” she said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
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Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia