Theresa May is to fly out to Berlin to hold one on one talks with Angela Merkel as the Government steps up its efforts to make progress on Brexit.
The two leaders will meet in the German capital on Friday where they are expected to discuss Britain’s future relationship with the bloc.
Mrs May will lobby Mrs Merkel to get support for a Brexit transition deal, which she hopes will be signed off at an EU summit later this month.
It comes as Chancellor Philip Hammond has been dispatched to make his own tour of Europe as part of a Brexit charm offensive.
He has today visited Sweden and Norway and is due to go on to Holland, Spain and Portugal as he holds meetings with political leaders across the bloc.
Theresa May is to fly out to Berlin to hold one on one talks with Angela Merkel (who she is pictured with, alongside Emmanuel Macron, at an EU summit last October) as the Government steps up its efforts to make progress on Brexit
While leading members of the Cabinet are set to deliver a series of speeches over the next week to spell out ‘Britain’s road map to Brexit’.
Mrs May and Mrs Merkel will hold talks at the German Chancery on Friday – the day before the PM gives a major speech in Munich on Britain’s security relationship with the EU post Brexit.
It is part of a strategy by the British Government to try to bypass the EU and go straight to the heads of EU member states to press their Brexit case.
Number 10 have wanted to get the Brexit transition deal signed off by the Brussels club by the end of the month so we can move on to talks about or future trading relationship.
As the Govenrment goes on a fresh charm offensive abroad, ministers will be holding a series of speeches at home in a bid to unite warring Tories over their vision for Brexit.
The PM’s meeting with the German leader comes as ministers embark on a series of speeches dubbed ‘Britain’s road map to Brexit’ which will spell out their hopes for the future. It will be kicked off tomorrow by Boris Johnson (pictured inspecting an elephant tusk in Thailand yesterday) who is making a major speech
Boris Johnson is kicking off the series tomorrow with his Valentine’s Day address, when he will call for leavers and remainers to abandon their campaign affiliations and unite behind Brexit opportunities.
The Foreign Secretary’s intervention – the first of half a dozen major Government speeches in the coming weeks – will promote his vision of a ‘liberal Brexit’.
On Saturday Mrs May will speak on the UK’s ‘security partnership’ with the EU, and the next fortnight will see speeches by Brexit Secretary David Davis and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.
The only Remain backer giving a speech will be Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington – Mrs May’s de facto deputy.
Mrs May will then set out her goals in a speech billed within Whitehall as the successor to her Lancaster House address last year, when she first declared that she wanted the UK to leave the single market and customs union.