Philip Hammond says UK, EU should have reciprocal markets

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond (L) and British Prime Minister Theresa May tour an engineering and scientific technology company. (File photo)

Britain and the European Union should have reciprocal access to each other's markets, says the country’s finance minister.

Philip Hammond made the remarks in an interview with Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday.

“We are optimistic that we will be able to reach an agreement that gives reciprocal access to each other's markets. The logic is there," said the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The message Britons sent when they voted for an exit from the bloc was a call to "control our immigration policy," he stated, adding that EU citizens can freely travel to Britain and do business.

"Clearly, we need people to come and work in our economy to keep it functioning," he said, asserting that having no control "has to stop."

He further voiced hope that Britain can remain “in the mainstream of European economic and social thinking," yet threatening to change course, "if we are forced."

"The British people are not going to lie down and say, too bad," he said. "If we have no access to the European market, if we are closed off", Britain would have to take measures "to regain competitiveness."

He added that Brussels needs to respect Britain’s "history and our destiny,” in the "substantive negotiations" in the following months.

British Prime Minister Theresa May was, meanwhile, preparing to set out details of the government's negotiating strategy on Tuesday.

In a landmark referendum held on June 23, nearly 52 percent of British voters, amounting to more than 17 million citizens, opted to leave the EU, a decision that sent shock waves throughout the world.

Those in favor of a British withdrawal from the EU argued that outside the bloc, London would be better positioned to conduct its own trade negotiations, better able to control immigration and free from what they believe to be excessive EU regulations and bureaucracy.

Those in favor of remaining in the bloc believed that leaving it would risk the UK's prosperity, diminish its influence over world affairs, and result in trade barriers between the UK and the EU.