Britain wants to have a comprehensive trade deal with the European Union as well as a defence pact in place once its leaves the bloc, Prime Minister Theresa May said in remarks published in a German newspaper on Saturday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May

Berlin:

May added that her government was not seeking to "cherry pick" in the negotiations and that it wanted a trade deal that goes further than that which the EU has with Norway or Canada simply because Britain is negotiating from a different position to those two countries.

"It is not about cherry picking," May told the mass-selling Bild newspaper. "We want to negotiate for a comprehensive free trade deal and security pact. We are in a different starting position than Canada or Norway."

Britain and the EU struck a divorce deal last month that paved the way for talks on future trade ties and boosted hopes of an orderly Brexit.

"We are leaving the EU but not Europe," she said.