DHAKA: Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain needs to be prepared to face some difficult time ahead of them due to their leave from European Union.

In the first television appearance since her office taking she warned that Brexit will not be ‘plain sailing’ for England, reports the BBC.  

She said formal EU talks will not begin until 2017, but vowed the process would not be ‘kicked into the long grass’.

May also ruled out a snap general election, as the UK needs ‘stability’.

The former home secretary became prime minister after David Cameron resigned in the wake of the EU referendum, with the Brexit process likely to dominate the first years of her premiership.

"We have had some good figures and better figures than some had predicted would be the case. I'm not going to pretend that it's all going to be plain sailing.”

“I think we must be prepared for the fact that there may be some difficult times ahead. But what I am, is optimistic,” she said before her leave for China G20 summit.

The prime minister said she wanted ‘an independent Britain, forging our own way in the world’.

“People also want to see the job opportunities, to see the economic opportunities, and so getting a good deal in trading goods and services is also obviously important for us,” she added.

May confidently announced she was ‘very clear’ that she expected the status of British citizens in other EU countries to be guaranteed and would ‘guarantee the status of EU citizens living here’.

She also said the government would not trigger Article 50, which will begin the formal two-year process of leaving the EU, before the end of this year.

BDST: 1103 HRS, SEP 04, 2016
NR/BD