After months of dither and delay, Prime Minister Theresa May finally spelled out in detail the U.K.'s vision for its post-Brexit partnership with the European Union.

The U.K. says the new relationship "could take the form of an Association Agreement" with the EU. That means stronger ties than a traditional free-trade arrangement, such as the EU's with Canada, and similar terms to the bloc's relationship with Ukraine. But the EU has previously ruled this out, saying it's not on offer because of the U.K.'s red lines.

Central to the blueprint is a proposal for a new U.K.-EU "free trade area," with interlinked customs regimes and identical regulations for industrial goods and agricultural products. Britain will have more freedom to diverge on rules for the services that make up four-fifths of its economy.