Theresa May wants Britain to ‘turn a corner’ after Brexit – but will it be that simple?

The country is itching to ‘start a new chapter’, the prime minister says – but the hard grind of working out what Brexit means will be only just beginning, says Rob Merrick

Ms May refers to the ‘implementation period’ after withdrawal, a phrase long-since abandoned by everybody else (AP)

Theresa May’s new year message was a plea to MPs to back her beleaguered Brexit deal so the UK can “turn a corner” and focus on the stuff that really matters to people – housebuilding, education, the NHS.

In the prime minister’s vision for 2019, the country is itching to “start a new chapter”, once this pesky business of pulling out of the EU is carried out on 29 March – but how realistic is this?

The answer lies in the description of the period that will follow the formal act of leaving the EU, or rather in the term that should be used to explain what happens next.