The Latest: May vows to guarantee rights of EU citizens soon

LONDON (AP) – The Latest on British Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech on Brexit (all times local):

12:40 p.m.

Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain will ensure control of immigration from Europe as it exits the EU – though she pledged to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the U.K. as soon as possible.

May said that while Britain remains an open and tolerant country and wants to continue attracting the best talent, immigration has put pressure on public services like schools and health care.

May says that Brexit must mean controlling the number of Europeans arriving from Britain. She vowed to guarantee the rights of Europeans already living and working in Britain – as well as those of Britons living in Europe. But she didn’t provide details on either of those points.

Questioned on what Britain’s future immigration policy would look like, May said details had yet to be worked out.

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12:20 p.m.

Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain will leave the EU’s single market – but will “seek greatest possible access to it” – as it exits the trade bloc.

May says her plans for Brexit cannot allow the U.K. to remain in the single market of the bloc because that would mean “not leaving the EU at all.”

May said she wanted Britain to be part of a customs union agreement with the other EU states, and remove as many trade barriers as possible. She did not provide details, but said she had an “open mind” on how to do it.

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12:15 p.m.

The pound is rallying on British Prime Minister Theresa May’s focus on keeping Britain open to global trade.

Though her speech Tuesday indicates that Britain will leave the European Union’s single market, she stressed her government’s desire to make the country open to new trade opportunities in the global economy.

May added that Britain will seek a free trade deal with the EU after leaving it. Such deals, however, typically take years to negotiate.

The pound, which has been recovering Tuesday from steep losses earlier in the week, rallied to trade 1.9 percent higher at $1.2271. On Monday, it was as low as $1.20, the weakest level since October and near a 31-year low.

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12:05 p.m.

Prime Minister Theresa May says that Britain plans to make a clean break from the European Union and not opt for “anything that leaves us half-in, half-out.”

In a major speech Tuesday, May said Britain won’t “hold on to bits of membership,” nor seek associate or partial membership of the bloc.

She says Britain will forge a “new and equal partnership” with Europe.

Britons voted to leave the EU in a referendum in June.

Setting out her vision for Britain, May said she wanted her country to emerge “stronger, fairer, more united and more outward-looking than before.”

She also said that Britain’s parliament will get to vote on a final Brexit deal.

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11:15 a.m.

Anthony Scaramucci, who is part of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, says global elites have to get out of their comfort zones and listen to the people if they don’t understand how Trump was elected or why Britain voted to leave the European Union.

At a panel at the World Economic Forum, financier Scaramucci said the richest top 3 percent of the world benefited from the massive stimulus measures enacted by global central banks since the financial crisis and are basically back to where they were in 2007. The remaining people, he said, are “struggling.”

To those among the global elites who don’t understand that post-crisis phenomenon, Scaramucci had a message: “Go to the prairie lands of the United States, or perhaps places in Great Britain or places in Europe. You know the places. Listen to the people. We have to as a collective group of people come up with the right policies.”

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10:25 a.m.

The chairman and CEO of Bank of America says major companies like his need clear rules before deciding how much business to maintain in Britain after it quits the European Union.

Brian Moynihan and other top bankers and executives gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos are eagerly awaiting details about the U.K. exit plans from British Prime Minister Theresa May in a speech Tuesday.

Moynihan, speaking to The Associated Press, said Bank of America is working on “all kinds of scenarios” to possibly shift activities out of London after the so-called Brexit, but insisted “it’s still not clear what that would do, or wouldn’t do.”

He said: “It’s still premature to say what anybody’s going to do until you have one set of rules. London will be an important part of our company no matter what happens with the British economy.”

Noting a mass sense of “dislocation” in the British and U.S. electorate because of fast technological change, he said, “The No. 1 job for the leader of any enterprise, whether civil political or business, is to be responsive to the people they serve.”

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9:05 a.m.

Prime Minister Theresa May is preparing to make a speech that will signal that Britain will make a clean break from the European Union and not seek to remain “half-in, half-out.”

In her most detailed address on the U.K.’s exit strategy, May will say that Britain doesn’t want “partial membership of the European Union” or “to hold on to bits of membership as we leave.”

Advance excerpts suggest May’s speech will disappoint businesses and voters who want the country to stay in the bloc’s single market.

It’s likely to be another shock for the pound, which hit a three-month low below $1.20 Monday. It traded slightly above that level early Tuesday.

Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital, said he was “expecting a wild ride for the pound today.”