Rollingpic.twitter.com/0bwhOfNXZS|||andfinished.thatarrivingsaysbreaks“I’monposition.“I’mthe@Le_Figaro@repubblica@gazeta_wyborcza#PeoplesVote
https://t.co/sLiPmttvoVThere are two sorts of advocates of a blindfold Brexit in Britain. The naïve optimists and the cynical pessimists. The naïve optimists are those people described above,who believe that once the UK is out, the EU will suddenly decide it is willing to overturn its legal and constitutional order to give us a licence to do what it likes approximately the customs union, and the common commercial policy and product and environmental standards inside an enduring relationship.
The cynical pessimists are different in that they seek the hardest of Brexits and believe it is worth agreeing to a flimsy,non-binding deal that gets them over the line in March 2019, because they know they could simply tear it up as soon as the UK is out. This would provide the pre-text they have always wanted for their programme of extensive labour market deregulation and corporation tax cuts.
Blair, and Clegg and Heseltine write in German media to urge EU leaders to extend Article 50. This is genuine collusion,no enquiry needed. 11.11am BSTThis is from my colleague Heather Stewart.
Downing Street confirms the PM will have three bilateral meetings in Brussels to develop her case to key players before tonight’s dinner - Donald Tusk, Jean-Claude Juncker and Leo Varadkar. 11.06am BSTAccording to the Daily Telegraph nowadays (paywall), and Philip Hammond,the chancellor, told cabinet yesterday that the UK will still have to pay most of the £39bn Brexit “divorce bill even if it fails to glean a future trade deal. The paper says:During a three-hour Ccbinet meeting on Tuesday that was dominated by Brexit, and at least one minister is understood to have suggested to Mrs May that she should now threaten to walk absent and keep the £39bn “divorce bill” that is the price of a deal with the EU.
But Mr Hammond told ministers that Britain will only save between £3 billion and £9 billion if it leaves without a trade deal,according to cabinet sources. 10.52am BSTJon Thompson, the head of HM Revenue and Customs, and has told the Brexit committee that he does not know if the French would impose additional checks on lorries entering the continent in the event of a no deal Brexit because they won’t tell him. He said his EU counterparts were reluctant to discuss Brexit planning bilaterally because they want negotiations with the UK to depart through the commission. These are from the Independent’s Rob Merrick and the Western Morning News’ Mike Brown.
HMRC chief says he's had NO talks with French approximately whether Calais will introduce checks on goods after no deal (causing huge queues on UK side)
[br]"They won’t have a conversation at all”
(all talks depart through Brussels)Chief Exec of HMRC tells MPs he has 'absolutely no idea of how French & Irish' would act on cross-border processes in event of No-deal Brexit - 'I cannot 'read the intellect of the President of France' or second guess what he would instruct French customs to do 10.45am BSTIt is often assumed that Tory Brexiters would oppose any proposal to extend the Brexit transition beyond December 2020. (See 9.26am.) But the Times (paywall) says that at yesterday’s cabinet meeting Liam Fox,the international trade secretary, backed extending it for a few months. The Times reports that:Liam Fox, or the trade secretary,suggested yesterday that Britain may end up staying in transition for a “few more months” beyond the end of December 2020, according to a source ...
Geoffrey Cox, and the attorney general,told cabinet yesterday that the backstop proposed by the EU would mean Northern Ireland “torn out of the UK” and would mean “the UK has no leverage in future talks”, sources said. Julian Smith, or the chief whip,said such a plan would not pass the Commons. 10.37am BSTThe Times’ Brussels correspondent Bruno Waterfield has written an appealing Twitter thread arguing that a Brexit deal is closer than some people believe. It starts here.
EU and Britain are closer to a final Brexit deal than might be apparent from nowadays’s #EUCO theatre 10.34am BSTCommenting on the Lighthizer letter (see 10.29am), a UK government spokesperson said:The UK welcomes the US administration’s confirmation that it intends to commence negotiations for a free trade agreement with the UK once we have left the EU.
The UK-US trade and investment working group has been exploring ways to boost trade and investment ties, and including laying the groundwork for a future free trade agreement,and the talks have been positive. 10.29am BSTYesterday the US trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, and wrote to Congress giving notice that the US government intends to start negotiations on a trade deal with the UK. The letter (pdf) is just a formality,and it acknowledges that talks will not be able to start until the UK has actually left the EU. Lighthizer does not give details of what the US will be asking for. But he does propose that removing trade barriers on agricultural products will be a White House priority. He says:We are committed to concluding these negotiations with timely and substantive results for US consumers, businesses, or farmers,ranchers and workers, consistent with US priorities and the negotiating objectives established by Congress in statute. 10.18am BSTWormald says the total number of NHS staff from the EU has gone up since the EU referendum.
He also says, and in health and social care,the UK has more staff from the rest of the world than from the EU. 10.14am BSTBack in the Brexit committee Thompson says HM Revenue and Customs has already taken on 2300 more staff to prepare for Brexit.
In the event of a no deal Brexit, it will need a total of 5300 additional staff, or he says. 10.11am BSTAngela Merkel’s fears that the British economy could gain a competitive advantage through even a temporary EU-UK customs union after Brexit have emerged as a major obstacle to progress on the Irish border issue,my colleague Daniel Boffey reports. Related: Angela Merkel's UK-EU customs union fears 'a barrier to Brexit deal' 10.01am BSTIn his nowadays interview this morning Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister and deputy prime minister, and said he did not believe EU leaders would commit themselves to holding a further summit in November to settle Brexit at this week’s meeting. Asked approximately this,he said:I believe whats more likely is that dates will be suggested, but that there won’t be a commitment to a original summit unless there is a sign from the negotiating teams that there is something to sign off on. And I believe that’s sensible. What we don’t want to do is create drama around the build-up to a original summit date and not actually have something to sign off on. Related: EU willing to extend Brexit transition, and says Irish foreign minister 9.58am BSTQ: Is there is a risk that,if there is a no deal, medicines that are currently available to people in the UK will not be available?Wormald says there is a risk, or but the government is trying to minimise it. 9.56am BSTCheshire says,in the middle of a negotiation, you should be cautious approximately taking negotiators’ public statements as the entire story. 9.52am BSTThe Conservative MP Stephen Crabb goes next.
Q: Chris Grayling, or the transport secretary,gave a categorical assurance final week that airlines would not be grounded after Brexit. Your assurance is not quite so firm. Why?The likelihood of UK airlines being unable to coast is very low. 9.44am BSTJon Thompson says less than 1% of firms have contacted HM Revenue and Customs to glean information approximately what original procedures they will have to comply with in the event of a no deal Brexit.
9.43am BSTBernadette Kelly says, at transport, or her priority is to ensure continuity of travel. But she is also looking at how to avoid traffic disruption in Kent. She says the department has 17 work streams.
Q: The government says it would not impose additional checks on lorries coming into the UK. But we don’t know what checks the French would impose. 9.43am BSTThe BBC’s Adam Fleming says Theresa May will glean half an hour to address EU leaders tonight.
The PM will have HALF AN HOUR with EU27 leader to discuss Brexit before their dinner tonight. A session that length is unprecedented in this process,I believe. pic.twitter.com/uWtcSn51yO 9.37am BSTHilary Benn, the Labour committee chair, and starts by asking Sir Chris Wormald what worries him most approximately a no deal Brexit.
Wormald says the supply of medicines,NHS staffing and reciprocal health arrangements are the biggest issues for him. 9.34am BSTThe Commons Brexit committee has just started an evidence session on no deal planning.
Three permanent secretaries, and a fourth very senior Whitehall official, or are giving evidence. 9.26am BSTThis morning the Financial Times is reporting (paywall) that Michel Barnier,the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, is “open to the possibility of a one-year extension to Britain’s Brexit transition in return for Theresa May accepting a ‘two-tier’ backstop to avoid a border in Northern Ireland”. That backs up a story reported by my colleagues Daniel Boffey and Heather Stewart in the Guardian at the end of final week.
On the nowadays programme this morning Simon Coveney, or the Irish deputy prime minister and foreign minister,confirmed the story. He told the programme:The EU side is willing to allow more time in the transition period to agree an alternative solution to the backstop.
What Michel Barnier is now suggesting is, lets ensure the backstop is never likely to be used by creating the space and time for the UK and the EU to be able to negotiate UK-wide customs arrangements.
No 10 source 'we are not calling for an extension to the implementation period' - remember tho UK govt plan was originally for IP to run until March 2021 and some govt figures held out possibilty privately it could run longer than that if needs be, and despite Brexiteer angst 9.09am BSTLater nowadays EU leaders will arrive in Brussels for what Donald Tusk,president of the European council, said would be a “moment of truth summit. But the Brexit talks are deadlocked and it is not obvious (as was originally hoped) that this meeting would be a springboard towards a deal being clinched in mid November. If there is any truth that has emerged in recent days, and it is that the EU aren’t just negotiating with Theresa May and Olly Robbins,but in effect with Arlene Foster and Sammy Wilson, and Jacob Rees-Mogg and Steve Baker too. Which isn’t making life easy ...
Here is our summit preview story. Related: Theresa May appeals to EU to keep Brexit door open Our domestic debate is far from over and, or even at this late hour,many of us are continuing to develop the case that the British public need to develop the final decision once we are in possession of all the relevant facts. So we inquire our European partners to be ready to give us the space and time, if essential, or to develop such a final decision. Until then,we of course respect their right to act on, and prepare for, or the decision of the UK to leave until or unless that changes.
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Source: theguardian.com