LONDON, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The founder of the party set up to campaign for Britain to quit the European Union was scathing Friday after Prime Minister Theresa May delivered her keynote speech in Florence, Italy.
Nigel Farage, the founder of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), said there was no substance to the speech, adding that May's vision "was to leave the EU in name only".
It followed May's announcement that although Britain would leave the EU in March 2019, there would be a two-year transitionary period when Brussels' rules would continue to apply before the final parting of the way.
Farage wrote in the Daily Telegraph: "This means Britain will have had to wait for five years since the Brexit vote before actually getting out of the EU and settling its future.
"Until then, we will continue to be subject to the EU's crazy freedom of movement policy; our huge net payments of up to 10 billion pounds (13.53 billion U.S. dollars) per year to the EU will go on; and all EU laws and EU regulations will remain in place and will be judged by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg."
The leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party was also critical of May's keynote speech spelling out Britain's plans to leave the European Union.
Jeremy Corbyn said: "Fifteen months after the EU referendum the government is still no clearer about what our long term relationship with the EU will look like."
Corbyn said the only advance seems to be that the Prime Minister "has listened to Labour and faced up to the reality that Britain needs a transition on the same basic terms to provide stability for businesses and workers".
Corbyn added: "That's because Theresa May and her Conservative cabinet colleagues are spending more time negotiating with each other rather than with the EU.
"The Conservatives have made clear they want to use Brexit to deregulate and cut taxes for the wealthy. Labour wants a Jobs-First Brexit that uses powers returned from Brussels to invest and upgrade Britain's economy."
Labour MP Jenny Chapman, who also serves as a shadow Brexit minister, commented: "The speech she gave today had one hell of a build-up and it was very, very weak, disappointing, empty, and clearly leaves so many questions unanswered, and I think many people will be scratching their heads and wondering what on earth the fuss has been about with this speech. Beyond committing to transition, which frankly everybody knew was an inevitability, there really wasn't very much to it."
The leader of the minority Liberal Democrat Party, Sir Vince Cable responded to the speech, saying his party will keep fighting to keep Britain in the European single market and customs union and offer people a chance to exit from Brexit.
"Both Conservatives and Labour have converged on the same position, kick the can down the road and delay economic pain of an extreme Brexit," said Cable.
