David Davis also said Britain should take its time before triggering the formal Article 50 exit process.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has appointed David Davis, a former junior foreign minister and strong Brexit advocate, to lead the country's negotiations for exiting the European Union, her office said in a statement on Wednesday.
Davis, a senior Conservative lawmaker who was beaten by former prime minister David Cameron in the party's 2005 leadership election contest, was appointed to the newly-created role of Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.
He will take on the crucial role of securing Britain's economic security whilst unpicking over four decades of trade, legal and diplomatic ties to the EU.
At the heart of the job will be finding an answer to the key negotiating question: how can Britain keep access to the EU's single market whilst winning the right to restrict free movement of workers from within the EU?
"Once the European nations realise that we are not going to budge on control of our borders, they will want to talk, in their own interest," he said on Monday in an article for Conservative grassroots website Conservative Home.
Davis also said Britain should take its time before triggering the formal Article 50 exit process, but could be ready to do so by the start of 2017.
"The negotiating strategy has to be properly designed, and there is some serious consultation to be done first," he said. "This whole process should be completed to allow triggering of Article 50 before or by the beginning of next year."
© Thomson Reuters 2016
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