FACTBOX-Brexit squabbles? What UK PM May's ministers say on immigration

Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit strategy has been questioned by senior ministers after a failed election gamble last month stripped her party of its parliamentary majority and weakened her control over a cabinet split about how best to leave the EU.

May has faced pressure from some, including finance minister Philip Hammond, to temper the plan she set out in January which prioritised immigration control ahead of the economy. Seen by others as a betrayal of the June 2016 referendum, that has provoked a backlash from the pro-Brexit members of her cabinet.

Key issues such as what level of EU immigration Britain will accept after it leaves the bloc, and how long a potential transition period continues after Britain's scheduled March 2019 exit date appear to remain undecided within May's team.

Below are comments from the prime minister and her senior team:

IMMIGRATION

Immigration from the EU is one of the most contentious issues because Britain's economy relies on imported labour but many British voters are angry at what they consider to be uncontrolled immigration.

Last year, overall net migration to the United Kingdom was 248,000, according to official figures.

As a member of the EU, citizens within the bloc have an automatic right to live and work in Britain.

Prime Minister Theresa May

Setting out her Brexit strategy in January, May said Britain would not seek to remain a member of the EU's single market because that would mean having to retain its freedom of movement rules.

May has been on holiday since last week, interrupting her break to attend a memorial service in Belgium on Monday.

"Free movement will end in March 2019," May's spokesman told reporters on Monday.

"Other elements of the post-Brexit immigration system will be brought forward in due course. It would be wrong to speculate on what these might look like or to suggest that free movement will continue as it is now."

Finance minister Philip Hammond

Hammond, who opposed leaving the EU in last year's referendum and has one eye on the business community, said on July 28 that there should be no immediate change to immigration or trading rules when Britain leaves.

"We've been clear that it will be some time before we are able to introduce full migration controls between the UK and the European Union," he told the BBC on July 28.

"People have talked about a year, two years, maybe three years."

"I think there's a broad consensus that this process has to be completed by the scheduled time of the next general election which is in June 2022. So a period of at the most three years in order to put these new arrangements in place and move us on a steady path without cliff edges from where we are today to the new long-term relationship with the European Union."

Trade minister Liam Fox

Fox, was a prominent campaigner for Brexit.

"We made it clear that control of our own borders was one of the elements we wanted in the referendum, and unregulated free movement would seem to me not to keep faith with that decision," he told the Sunday Times on July 29.

Asked about the possiblity of extending free movement during a transitional dea of up to three years, Fox said: "If there have been discussions on that, I have not been party to them," Fox told the newspaper.

"I have not been involved in any discussion on that, nor have I signified my agreement to anything like that."

Environment minister Michael Gove

Gove was a leading figure in the campaign to leave the EU.

"The prime minister has made clear, as we leave the European Union we will have an implementation period which will ensure that we can continue to have, not just access to labour, but the economic stability and certainty which business requests," he said on July 21.

Interior minister Amber Rudd

Rudd is a close ally of Theresa May, and campaigned to remain in the EU.

"Once we have left the EU, this government will apply its own immigration rules and requirements that will meet the needs of UK businesses, but also of wider society," Rudd said in an article in the Financial Times on July 27.

"I also want to reassure businesses and EU nationals that we will ensure there is no 'cliff edge' once we leave the bloc."

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)