U.K. will set out EU trade objectives next month

Britain will set out more details about its objectives for a free trade deal with the European Union next month after the country leaves the bloc on Jan. 31, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said.

"We are going to publish our objectives for the negotiation ... in due course after the 31st," he told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC television Sunday.

"But the key issue is that we will have control of our rules, we will not be a rule taker, we will not diverge for the sake of diverging, we start from a position of alignment," he said.

"But the key opportunity is that we will be able to set our standards, high standards, on worker's rights, on the environment, on state aid as part of that trade policy."

Britain is officially leaving the EU after political turmoil that began after the 2016 Brexit referendum.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson formally signed the EU withdrawal agreement on Friday, following signatures early in the day from the heads of the European Commission and Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel.