IT ALWAYS seem bizarre when political leaders opt to make major speeches outside their own country.

One of the most famous European speeches was in Bruges, when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister. She used that to underline that the UK wanted its own position within what was then the EC. That speech echoed through the years via the deep divisions in the Conservative party on Europe – and those continue today.

Last week it was Theresa May that headed overseas, choosing Florence as the backdrop for her big and long awaited speech on Brexit. Unlike Caesar, who famously came, saw and conquered, Mrs May might have come and seen Florence, but she failed to conquer critics in her own party or the European Commission.

For farmers and other businesses, she has left things even more confused and uncertain. A transition was always inevitable – although pro-Brexit MPs, including Boris Johnson, sought to deny this would happen, they were eventually forced to back a cabinet decision.

They are, however, angry that UK will be tied to the EU until 2021 and will continue paying into it at least until then. This really does sink any immediate prospects of funds saved from Brussels contributions being used elsewhere. It is important farmers recognise that is what this offer means.

Those relying on EU labour, particularly for seasonal work, will still have access to that labour until 2021. But people coming in from EU member states will face fresh red tape after 2019, unless that is given up in the negotiations with the EU.

What is not happening, at least until anything different is said by the Defra Secretary Michael Gove, is a continuation of direct payments. We know the amount going to agriculture is guaranteed for the life of this parliament, but assurances on direct payments are only until 2020.

This issue has already dragged on far too long without any decisions, or even realistic suggestions, from Westminster. Hopefully some MPs and party activists from the shires will make clear at the Conservative party conference that this is unacceptable.

However given the divide between the Tories at Westminster and rural areas, that is a far from certain prospect. The farming lobby would be unwise to see the delay on the final Brexit date as a reason to ease back on the pressure for a deal on support. It is as live an issue as it was before the Florence speech. Indeed we now know that some of the funds we might have hoped would go to farming will in fact be used to maintain the CAP in the EU-27. This is the outcome of promising that other countries will not see their contributions to Brussels rise because of the UK's departure.

The big unknown in all of this is what the deal will be over UK access to the Single Market from 2019, when Brexit happens, for the two years of the transition. The government has confirmed it will not remain in the customs union on the same basis as Norway. Instead it wants a special deal during and beyond the transition phase to be in the Single market without accepting the other rules of EU membership. Securing this will be a major battle.

It is also still far from certain what will happen about accessing the EU-27 market after we leave the EU completely in 2021. For now the government at Westminster seems to be better at saying what it does not want, rather than what it wants or has any prospect of securing.

A key question for farmers is how they will access that market, even up to 2021. In theory, the Single Market rules will continue to apply. That is effectively what the government is shelling out £18 billion to secure. But if, for example, Scotch lamb is going to France, it is a safe bet that farmers there or elsewhere in the EU-27 will insist it fully meets, or even exceeds, CAP standards.

The question then is how farmers anywhere in the UK will be able to meet standards for a policy they are no longer part of. The alternatives are a battle a day to secure access to the market, or continuing to meet the rules of the CAP which farmers believed they had escaped with Brexit in 2019. Once again it seems policy is being made on the hoof, and that far from making things clearer for business, the prime minister has made them even more murky.