The 28 European Union member states have approved guidelines for the UK 's future relationship with the EU post - Brexit . In a statement , the European Council said it was ready to begin free trade agreement negotiations , but reiterated the deal would not have " the same benefits as membership and can not amount to participation in the single market " . Ahead of the debate and vote, which only took a few minutes, British Prime Minister Theresa May had said that the next stage of negotiations had to be dynamic in order to successfully form a future partnership between London and Brussels. Among the many issues still to be resolved is the closure of the Irish border , which the 1999 Good Friday Agreement specifies must remain open .
The 28 European Union member states have approved guidelines for the UK 's future relationship with the EU post - Brexit . In a statement , the European Council said it was ready to begin free trade agreement negotiations , but reiterated the deal would not have " the same benefits as membership and can not amount to participation in the single market " . Among the many issues still to be resolved is the closure of the Irish border , which the 1999 Good Friday Agreement specifies must remain open .