Its wednesday 18 january. Iamjoanna i am joanna gosling. Welcome to bbc newsroom live. The Foreign Secretary has said countries are queuing up to sign Free Trade Deals with britain when it leaves the European Union. Borisjohnson also suggests that agreements could be achieved quickly after the article 50 negotiations are concluded, and said the uk would not be hauling up the drawbridge, despite the new Migration Controls promised by theresa may. Our assistant Political Editor norman smith is in westminsterfor us. Over to you. Thank you. What is striking this morning is the confidence oozing from number ten about yesterdays Big Speech By theresa may on brexit, insisting there has been a positive reaction from other senior eu leaders such as Angela Merkel and francois hollande, both of whom theresa may spoke to last night. This despite the fact that she has thrown down the gau ntlet that she has thrown down the ga u ntlet to that she has thrown down the gauntlet to the rest of the eu say
In the European Union. So it is a particular type of cohort you get in britain, which doesnt mean they speak for the whole of british business. Earlier today i interviewed the head of the International Monetary fund, Christine Lagarde, who has been negative about brexit in the past, and i started by asking her if the uk leaving the Single Market would be bad for britain. You have to look at all the parameters. You have to look at the monetary policy, the exchange rate, the interest that would be charged. You have to look at the engines for growth, whether that very solid uk consumption which has held the economy together, and better than we had thought, will last. Whether investment, both domestic and from the rest of the world, will persist, or whether there will be a significant reduction, and under what terms the exports will eventually take place between the uk and the rest of the world. What i know for sure is that theres a lot of work to be done in the coming weeks, months and po