Britain may need a transitional agreement to smooth its exit from the European Union but it should not "buy back" into too many of the bloc's regulations, Britain's trade minister Liam Fox said on Sunday, according to Reuters. Fox, who campaigned for a Brexit vote in June's referendum, also indicated he was seeking a flexible approach on trade to try to ensure the best deals for the British economy. Asked in a BBC interview whether he supported such a plan, Fox said: "That depends what the actual arrangement is as we come to leave the European Union and the timescale needed to implement it." Britain is due to launch Brexit negotiations by the end of March, setting the clock ticking on up to two years of talks. Fox, who is reported to be more in favour of a clean break with the EU, said the government needed to seek to minimise disruption to businesses and international trade. "But at the same time you can't afford to buy back into so much of the European Union that we are actually diminishing the effect of what the British people told us to do," he said. Fox said Britons had made it clear they did not want to see uncontrolled immigration or to be governed by European courts and the government needed to take that on board.
