THERESA May has begged Brussels to give the UK another two years to sort out Brexit. In a keynote speech in the Italian city of Florence, the Prime Minister, desperate to break the negotiation deadlock, asked for a transition period, and gave into some European demands

Although there was no mention of a specific sum, the Tory leader said the UK would honour commitments “made during the period of our membership,” and that no member of the EU should “fear that they will need to pay more or receive less over the remainder of the current budget plan as a result of our decision to leave”.

That promise, effectively committed the UK to paying the Brexit “divorce bill” in full, although May dismissed as “exaggerated and unhelpful” suggestions that the figure could be between £50-£80 billion.

READ MORE: Wee Ginger Dug: Theresa May’s big speech in Florence won’t save her ... or the Union

Continued access to the single market and customs union during the transition period May has asked for would reportedly cost about £18bn.The UK would also be subject to EU rules and regulations and have no control over them.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier called May’s speech constructive. Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage called it “two fingers up” to Brexit voters. The bill to leave has been one of the three key stumbling blocks in negotiations so far.

May said little about the Irish border, but made some movement on the rights of EU and British citizens.

During the transition period, and until a new immigration system was in place, Europeans would continue to be able to come and live and work in the UK, the Tory leader said, but they will be expected to register.

More broadly, on EU ex-pats living in the UK, and British ex-pats living in Europe, May caved in to Brussels demands for greater legal protection for their citizens, saying she wanted UK courts “to be able to take into account the judgments of the European Court of Justice with a view to ensuring consistent interpretation”.

May will hope the movement from London will make it more likely Brussels will allow talks on a trade deal to start.

The Prime Minister did not outline what she thought that deal would look like, but called for the future relationship between the UK and the EU to be unique, not some sort of variation on the trade agreements Brussels has with Canada or Norway.

“I don’t believe either of these options would be best for the UK or best for the European Union,” she said.

“European Economic Area membership would mean the UK having to adopt at home – automatically and in their entirety – new EU rules. Rules over which, in future, we will have little influence and no vote. Such a loss of democratic control could not work for the British people.

“I fear it would inevitably lead to friction and then a damaging re-opening of the nature of our relationship in the near future: the very last thing that anyone on either side of the Channel wants.”

A Canadian style free trade agreement was a “restriction” on what already exists between the UK and the EU today.

“We can do so much better than this,” May said, calling for a “creative as well as practical … ambitious economic partnership which respects the freedoms and principles of the EU, and the wishes of the British people”.

Asked later if the Government’s position was still “no deal is better than a bad deal”, she told reporters: “We continue to believe that.”

May had said during her speech, however, that if no agreement was reached it would be “damaging” for the whole continent.

She added: “We should be in no doubt that if our collective endeavours in these negotiations were to prove insufficient to reach an agreement, it would be a failure in the eyes of history and a damaging blow to the future of our continent.

“Indeed, I believe the difference between where we would all be if we fail – and where we could be if we can achieve the kind of new partnership I have set out today – to be so great that it is beholden on all of us involved to demonstrate the leadership and flexibility needed to ensure that we succeed.”

May also dismissed talk of withholding cooperation with European agencies if no deal was forthcoming.

“Our resolve to draw on the full weight of our military, intelligence, diplomatic and development resources to lead international action, with our partners, on the issues that affect the security and prosperity of our peoples is unchanged,” she said.

May, speaking to an audience of Cabinet members, journalists and dignitaries in a Renaissance church in the historic Italian city, a venue supposedly found at short notice by the embassy in Rome, started her speech by controversially claiming Britons had never really felt European.

“The strength of feeling that the British people have about this need for control and the direct accountability of their politicians is one reason why, throughout its membership, the United Kingdom has never totally felt at home being in the European Union,” she asserted.

She added: “And perhaps because of our history and geography, the European Union never felt to us like an integral part of our national story in the way it does to so many elsewhere in Europe.”