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Theresa May Brexit speech: PM threatens to ditch free trade deal with EU if Europe tries to punish UK Theresa May Brexit speech: PM threatens to ditch free trade deal with EU if Europe tries to punish UK
(35 minutes later)
Theresa May has threatened to pull out of the free trade deal with the EU if Europe tries to punish the UK. Theresa May has threatened to pull out of the free trade deal with the European Union if the rest of the bloc tries to punish the UK.
More follows...  The Prime Minister said it would be a "calamitous act of self-harm" if any EU member states pursued a punitive deal, adding that the approach she put forward in a speech on Tuesday is in Britain's and Europe's best interest.
"No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal deal for Britain," the Prime Minister said.
EU officials have mooted making a post-Brexit UK pay contributions to the trading bloc or implementing high tariff barriers in order to maintain access to its market of over 500 million consumers.
But on Tuesday Ms May rejected such a proposal and said that outside of the single market, the UK would not be forced to make large contributions to the EU
"Because we will not be members of the single market... we will not contribute significantly to the EU."
"The days of Britain making vast contributions to the EU will end," she said.
The UK paid around £13bn into Brussels' coffers in 2015.
In December, Brexit Secretary David Davis told MPs that ensuring access to the EU's single market was the "major criterion" in Brexit talks and that if the UK had to pay contributions, "then of course we would consider it."
On Tuesday, Ms May said the Government would now seek a "comprehensive, bold and ambitious" free trade agreement, confirming that it would not seek to maintain any form of membership of the single market.
The EU has 56 deals of varying types with nations around the world.