Theresa May has made clear the UK will not seek “passporting” rights for the City of London after Brexit.

The prime minister said instead she would try to secure access to the EU’s market for financial services in a new free trade deal.

The passporting system currently allows British financial firms to sell their services right across the EU.

In an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme conducted on Friday and broadcast on Sunday morning, May said: “If we were to accept passporting we would just be a rule taker, we would have to abide by the rules that were being set elsewhere.”

“Given the importance of financial stability of ensuring the City of London we can’t just take the same rules without any say in them.”

May said she expected the EU to agree to financial services as part of a new trade deal as access to British financial services “matters to them as well”.

She said the UK wanted to “go further” on making financial services part of a trade deal than any other previous deal with the EU had.

“That’s a recognition of the very important role the City of London plays, not just for the UK, but for the rest of the EU,” she said.

The prime minister used her speech on Friday to reaffirm her commitment to taking the UK out of the single market and customs union.

And she told voters to face up to the “hard facts” that “life is going to be different” after the UK leaves the EU.

May told Marr she had decided to be “straight with people”. She added: “It was a vision that was ambitious but was also practically based and therefore a credible vision.”