Commenting on the invoking of Article 50, Richard Tice, Co-Chair of Leave Means Leave said: 

“Today is an historic moment in defining our national renewal. 

“I welcome the Prime Minister’s letter and her commitment that the objective of negotiations will be to provide certainty – this is what British businesses want to see. 

“I also welcome the Prime Minister’s unwavering ambition – mentioning it four times in the six page letter that she wants to conduct exit negotiations alongside and in tandem with agreeing the terms of the future UK-EU partnership. This shows that she means business when it comes to forging a strong agreement within the two year timeframe. 

“The Prime Minster has also been firm in setting out key ground rules for conducting the negotiations – demanding that “it would help both sides to minimise unnecessary disruption” in order to ensure clean negotiations.

“There was one key point missing from the letter – no mention of any cut-off point for EU migration. This is deeply worrying as it could lead to an influx of mass migration to Britain in the two years between now and 29th March 2019. The British people voted to take back control of their borders and the Government must deliver on that now.

“Today is an important day but the job of leaving the EU is far from over – it is only just beginning.”