Brexit Britain is set to move onto the next phase of negotiations with the European Union and begin discussing a future trade relationship with Brussels. 

Theresa May has said the UK is seeking a “bespoke” deal with the European Union when it finally cuts ties with the bloc. 

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Anastassia Beliakova, Senior Trade Policy Manager at British Chambers of Commerce, explained how important the next two months were for Britain and for the EU. 

She said: “Now is actually a very interesting time. 

“I think the next two-and-a-half months leading up to the next EU Council summit on the 22 and 23 of March is really the crunch time. 

“The reason for that is that the EU Commission will have by then receive its guidelines from the member states and that will really set the next stage of negotiations. After that, it is much more difficult to influence how things are going. 

“However, during the next two, two-and-a-half months is when member states are talking between each other. There is an opportunity to test out some of these ideas.”

Ms Beliakova also said that now was the time for companies within the European Union to start applying pressure to their governments and set out their priorities for future negotiations. 

In the lead up to the referendum leading Brexiteers insisted that German car manufactures and French wine exporters would still need to trade with the UK after Brexit. 

Ms Beliakova said that now was the time for those EU businesses to begin making sure that their “voices” are heard. 

She said: “Like I mentioned earlier now is really the critical time because now is the time when individual member states can set out their priorities.

“Now is when these national companies in the EU should really be making their interests and their voices heard. 

“For many organisations on the continent, indeed we have heard from the German banking association this week saying that their priority is not winning over business from the UK, it’s continuity.

“I think this is a message we are hearing from our partners and we certainly hope this is going to be filtering up to the Commission as well.”

Philip Hammond declared the UK was “open for business” as he meets with potential future trade partners attending the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.

Speaking as he arrived in Brussels for a summit of European finance ministers this week, he said: “There will be lots of people at Davos and the message we’ll be taking is that Britain’s open for business.

“We’re keen to discuss with partners both European and further afield about our future relationships and Britain’s role in the global economy and in particular London’s role in the global financial economy.”

The comments come after earlier this month the Prime Minister set out the kind of relationship the UK will seek with the EU in the next phase of negotiations. 

Theresa May told Andrew Marr: “Well, we are definitely leaving the EU on March 29th, 2019 - that's for sure. The first stage in getting that is looking at the implementation period in more detail.

“The business community asked us for the implementation period, to ensure business confidence endured. We then have to work on the withdrawal agreement by the end of the year, and we want to finalise a deal on our future relationship. 

“What Canada-Plus-Plus-Plus means is that we want our own trade deal, that is all. We start with our own relationship with the EU - and since 80 percent of the economy is service-based that is what we will seek to add to the Canada deal.”