May: Britain will play 'full and active' role in EU until Brexit

Theresa May has said that the breakdown in talks for a free trade union between Canada and the EU would have no bearing on the UK's own attempts to carve out a deal with Brussels.

The prime minister said she was "disappointed" by the blocks hit by the planned CETA deal but did not believe that they reflected on the UK's likely ability to get its own trade agreement with the bloc after Brexit. "We are not seeking to replicate an existing model," she told MPs in a statement. "We will be developing our own British model."

Mrs May also announced that parliament will be given the chance to discuss the terms of Brexit in a series of debates starting within weeks.

The discussions would take place both before and after Christmas, she added.

Belgium said it had been unable to clear the way to approve an EU-Canada trade deal because a single region remains opposed.

"I have officially told Tusk that we have no agreement," said Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel after a meeting with regional leaders in Wallonia.

The Wallonians' implacable opposition threatens to derail the CETA trade agreement, which was seven years in the making.

Canada said it was "impossible" to continue talks last week, while the EU had given Belgium until Monday to hold crisis talks in the hope of reaching a compromise.

Michel said he was still open to dialogue with leaders in Wallonia, and that it was too early to say whether CETA was dead.

The breakdown of the talks has also highlighted the challenges faced by Theresa May as she attempt's to strike her own deal with the EU after the vote for Brexit.

• What is the CETA trade deal and why does it matter?

• Video report by ITV News Europe Editor James Mates

The breakdown of talks intended to create a free trade zone between Canada and the EU has highlighted the challenge faced by Theresa May as she attempts to strike her own deal with the bloc after the vote for Brexit.

One small region of Belgium is blocking a planned CETA trade deal with Canada that was seven years in the making - and it will have a similar power of veto over any agreement with Britain.

If the UK votes for a hard Brexit then it will need to have inked an agreement with the bloc within just two years - but European leaders are already warning that could be virtually impossible.

"If there are all these problems to have a simple trade agreement with Canda, just imagine a trade agreement with the United Kingdom," said Malta's president Joe Muscat.

Theresa May has pressed the EU for a "bespoke" Brexit deal that would allow the UK to control migration while still keeping strong trade links, a spokeman has said.

The prime minister vowed to carry out talks in a "positive and constructive spirit" in a one-on-one meeting with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.

It came after she was sidelined at a summit which saw her only allowed to address fellow leaders briefly on the UK's plans for Brexit.

A No 10 spokesman said Mrs May had stressed that Britain would remain a strong partner to Europe even after leaving the bloc, as she tries to set a positive tone on the difficult talks.

Talks aimed at establishing a free trade deal between Canada and the EU are reported to have failed.

Canada's trade minister Chrystia Freeland announced the intense talks had broken down as she walked out of meetings with EU leaders in Belgium.

A spokesman for the European Commission said that the talks had currently halted, but they were still continuing to work on a deal.

All 28 EU governments support the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

But the bloc cannot approve the deal without support from five sub-federal administrations, and French-speaking Wallonia has steadfastly opposed it.

Britain will conduct Brexit negotiations in a way that will secure it the best deal, the Prime Minister has said after she was questioned over suggestions that the talks should take place in French rather than English.

The EU's lead Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, had previously suggested that divorce talks and documents should all be conducted in French.

However, an EU spokeswoman stressed that it was not an official line and that there is "no language regime for the negotiations".

Theresa May's comments came after her first European Council meeting as Prime Minister.

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