To leave the EU, Britain has to deal more with the EU

TO much of the rest of Europe, Brexit Britain has sometimes felt like one long comedy fast turning into farce, if not tragedy. On Friday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May will seek to reset the exit talks process with the European Union with a major, agenda-setting speech in Florence, Italy.

As Mrs May makes what is only her second major set-piece speech on Brexit since she became prime minister in July 2016 - and potentially the most important address of her premiership to date - she will increasingly be realising one of the great ironies of the United Kingdom's vote to leave the EU; that is, the monumental effort and time her government now needs to devote to the Brussels-based club for the foreseeable future, more so than perhaps all previous administrations did before the Brexit vote, as it seeks to negotiate exit terms.

Thus, a referendum that saw around 52 per cent of the population apparently voting for cutting ties with the EU is seeing the government devote huge attention to Europe, with a key strategic priority being developing a new relationship with Brussels and the 27 member states. Such is the scale of the task underway that it may be the most complex and important peacetime negotiation that the UK has ever faced.