Donald Tusk refuses even to discuss ending the uncertainty for EU citizens in the UK and British expats on the continent The status of UK and EU expats after Brexit can be resolved only once formal negotiations have started, the European Council president has said. Donald Tusk hit back at criticism from UK politicians over the plight of EU nationals in the UK and Britons living overseas. In a letter the 81 MPs and peers accused the EU Commission of “standing in the way” of a “reciprocal” deal. But Mr Tusk said their criticism had “nothing to do with reality”. He said Brexit – not the stance taken by EU negotiators – had created “anxiety and uncertainty”, saying the best way to “dispel the fears and doubts of all the citizens concerned” was to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which begins a two-year negotiation process…Addressing Conservative MP Michael Tomlinson, who organised the original letter, he said: “Just like you, I would like to avoid a situation where citizens become ‘bargaining chips’ in the negotiation process. “In order for this not to happen, we will need precise and comprehensive solutions, which, other than nice-sounding expressions, will provide citizens with genuine guarantees of security.” – BBC Conservative MP Steve Baker, who organised the letter sent to Brussels alongside Mr Tomlinson, said the response was “dogmatic intransigence” placing “EU processes before EU voters’ concerns – again”. – The Independent Iain Duncan Smith, a Tory MP and former Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “Donald Tusk is only interested in his own power and authority, he has no interest in the needs of ordinary people. He is using people as a human shield against the UK, it’s a pathetic position to be in. These people should be given the right to remain. They are operating like the old Soviet system – it’s structured around absolute authority at the centre. They don’t care for people or democracy. It is reprehensible, bizarre and sad. I must say that I’m astonished that they would want to play games with people’s lives”. – Daily Telegraph Continuity Remain campaign attacks EU for “using people as pawns” – Guido Fawkes Donald Tusk blames British voters for expats’ EU uncertainty – The Guardian Donald Tusk says UK should trigger Article 50 right now if it wants to negotiate British citizens’ status in the EU – City A.M. Arrogance of Angela Merkel and EU President Donald Tusk steadily increases the loathing of the European Union across the continent – The Sun Says Germans pressure Merkel to offer Britain ‘harsh Brexit negotiations’, shock poll reveals – Daily Express Why wait for Merkel? Theresa May should guarantee the status of EU nationals now – Fraser Nelson for The Spectator’s Coffee house blog > Last night on BrexitCentral: Donald Tusk refuses even to engage on the reciprocal rights of UK and EU citizens, let alone guarantee them Boris Johnson reportedly seeking a Brexit amnesty for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants The Foreign Secretary’s calls to give residency rights to any illegal immigrants who have avoided detection for the past 10 years echo his controversial policy which he championed during his spell as London mayor. Mr Johnson has reportedly argued his proposals would prompt the unregistered immigrants to start paying taxes and bolster the Treasury funds. – Daily Express EU’s Brexit negotiator wants to stop UK getting ‘soft transitional deal’ At a closed-door meeting in Brussels, Michel Barnier outlined his negotiating strategy to EU government officials for the first time. Described as technical seminar, the event on Tuesday lasted about three hours, and was attended by experts from 27 EU member states, but not the UK. According to informed sources, Barnier wants to guard against a Brexit transition that is too comfortable and would allow the UK access to the single market without meeting the EU’s obligations, such as free movement of people and paying into the EU budget. – The Guardian Britain should be a paying member of the EU until at least 2020 despite Brexit vote, Polish minister warns Witold Waszczykowski, who joined his prime minister Beata Szydlo for talks at No 10 yesterday, said Brexit would take at least two or three years – if it happened at all. In comments to Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, Mr Waszczykowski said ‘in the next three years there is no need to treat Britain as a child with special needs, which is stigmatized and marginalized’. – Daily Mail Leaked Brexit plan mocked as EU leaders insist PM will not be allowed to ‘cherry pick’ – Daily Mirror Britain’s long-time ally Sweden sides with EU on Brexit – Reuters Brexit won’t hit economy as much as 2008 recession, admits IFS The hit to the UK economy as a result of Brexit is unlikely to be “anywhere close” to being as damaging as the 2008 crash, the head of a leading economic think-tank has told MPs. And the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, said it was possible that the downturn predicted by many forecasters “may not materialise” – though things “may turn out considerably worse”. – Daily Mail European Court of Justice has ‘ultimate authority’ over leaving process, says most senior British official on the panel A senior British judge who sits on the European Court of Justice has said it has the ‘ultimate authority’ over Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston QC said: ‘If you join the club and you wish to leave the club, you leave in accordance with the rules when you join the club…the rules of this club are the ones contained in Article 50, and the interpretation of those rules is a matter for this Court (the ECJ).’ – Daily Mail As government faces a fresh legal challenge on Brexit, is it unlikely Article 50 will be triggered before the end of March? – Olly Kendall and Mark Wallace for City A.M. City must apply EU rules to keep lead role, says eurogroup chief The City of London risks losing its role as the continent’s premier financial centre unless the UK agrees to fully apply EU regulations post-Brexit, one of Europe’s most senior policymakers has warned….[Eurogroup chail Jeroen Dijsselbloem] said the price for Britain of retaining market access would be following the so-called Norway model — namely membership of the European Economic Area, meaning full compliance with single-market regulations. – F.T. New-look Ukip demands Theresa May rejects Article 50 process altogether and quit the EU immediately The party claims the Prime Minister’s current strategy is ‘to delay and delay the whole process in order to fudge it,’ warning Britain will ‘continue to pay money to the EU, obey a large percentage of its laws and have open borders’….Instead of triggering Article 50 – the two year formal mechanism for leaving the EU – Ukip is calling for Parliament to repeal the European Communities Act immediately in order to restore the law-making supremacy of the UK Parliament. – Daily Mail Labour’s secret ‘plot’ to block Article 50 – Daily Mail Scotland’s Brexit options to be published within weeks Scotland’s First Minister said the document, to be unveiled before the end of the year, will set out in detail ways in which the Scottish vote on the EU in/out referendum can be respected. “It will focus on options for Scotland within the UK,” she said, during a historic address to the Seanad, Ireland’s upper house of parliament. Of course, there is also the option of Scotland considering again the question of becoming an independent country. That option remains firmly on the table.” – ITV Tory tells Scottish Government to “put on your big boy pants” and deal with Brexit – The Courier If Scotland stops Britain from leaving the EU, the damage to our Union could be permanent – Philip Johnson for the Daily Telegraph (£) The countries most likely to follow Britain and leave the EU next A recent survey by YouGov on the subject of the union, has offered predictions of the next countries to be bastardised with the suffix ‘exit’..The highest ‘Leave’ votes outside of Britain were in Italy, France, and Sweden. – The Independent Merkel in meltdown as nearly half of Germans want EU referendum – Daily Express Now Netherlands looks set to leave crumbling EU bloc – Daily Express John Rentoul: At the Richmond Park by-election we’ll find out if Remainers feel strongly enough about Brexit to throw out Zac Goldsmith If Goldsmith does win, I suspect his majority will be smaller than the Labour vote. That would re-open the controversy caused by Labour MPs including Clive Lewis, whose views are close to Jeremy Corbyn’s, and who called for Labour to stand aside to maximise the chances of defeating Goldsmith. But Corbyn refused to follow the example of Ukip, who stood aside and backed Goldsmith, and the Greens (also deeply divided on the question), who stood aside and backed Olney. But if the by-election does come down to the strength of feeling against Brexit and that against the Heathrow third runway, then Olney will win. – John Rentoul for The Independent Dominic Sandbrook: Why that secret Tory briefing paper was right to predict France would be the most bloody-minded opponent of Brexit We all knew the French were likely to be the most implacable obstacle to a successful Brexit, and that they would try to use it to steal business from the City of London. The only surprise is that anybody saw the need to write it down. Who demanded that the Brexit talks be conducted exclusively in French? Why, who else but the former French foreign minister Michel Barnier, a strident critic of Britain’s financial sector, who wangled a job as the EU’s chief negotiator.And which country placed adverts trying to lure major firms from London, and even promised them financial aid in resettling workers and handling their English files? Well, I’ll give you a clue — it wasn’t Germany. – Dominic Sandbrook for the Daily Mail Daniel Hannan MEP: We really can have our cake and eat it when we leave the EU… and so can they One phrase that appeared on the notes was “Canada-plus”. Think of Canada for a minute. It has a federation on its doorstep, the United States. It has the closest possible military, trade and security relationship with that federation but is separate from it. As Churchill put it: “We are with Europe but not of it, linked but not combined, interested and associated but not absorbed.” If that’s having our cake and eating it, bring on the cakes. – Daniel Hannan MEP for The Sun Allison Pearson: It’s time Blair, Major and Clegg spared us their patronising guff on Brexit I do understand how painful all this is. So painful that there are certain Remain friends I’ve agreed never to discuss it with. When one part of the family feels distraught after a bereavement and the rest feels only relief, then tact and sensitivity are required. On both sides. The fact is Britain voted to get back control of our borders and to make and live by our own laws. Any attempt to sabotage the popular will would be dangerous as well as undemocratic. Brexit cannot be decided by the tyranny of the minority. – Allison Pearson for the Daily Telegraph (£) Stephen Bush: If you want a good deal out of Brexit, first, understand that there are other politicians in the EU than Angela Merkel The bulk of British expatriates in the European Union live in Spain – the fourth destination worldwide for British immigrants, after the United States, Australia and Canada – then Ireland, then France – seventh and eighth – respectively. Germany is ninth. The bulk of European nationals living in Britain are from Eastern Europe, though some 270,000 Germans do reside here.Merkel is powerful, but Berlin can’t negotiate on behalf of Madrid, or Warsaw, or Prague. – Stephen Bush for the New Statesman John Redwood MP: The EU has the weak negotiating position I don’t think in the end, with such high unemployment in the Euro area, they will want to hurt their trade. If they do, it will certainly confirm how wise we were to leave. Why would you want to stay in a club with other members who so want to harm you that they will harm themselves more to do so? Why would you wish to stay with former partners who say such disobliging things and cannot even tell their residents they are of course free to stay where they are living. Time for our journalists to ask some questions of the 27. – John Redwood MP for Comment Central Cards stacked in our favour, say Brexit officials – F.T. (£) Brexit Comment in Brief Michel Barnier the Brexit bogeyman – Pierre Briançon for Politico We’re heading for a trade war and we’ll all lose – Daniel Finkelstein for The Times (£) London needs a new deal with its nation to secure a good Brexit for its leading industries – Bruce Dear for City A.M. How exports will lead the way in post-Brexit Britain – Ben Lobel for GrowthBusiness.co.uk The leaked Brexit memo shows how honest the government has been – Juliet Samuel for the Daily Telegraph Keeping a Brexit plan secret shouldn’t be a piece of cake in a free country – Adam Barnett for Left Foot Forward The most disturbing aspect of the referendum campaign was the failure to acknowledge the issue that has now emerged: process – David Elstein for Open Democracy Reforming EU banking capital and liquidity requirements, with a flavour of post-Brexit regulation – Hortense Huez for the PWC blog UK universities need a bespoke Brexit deal with flexibility on freedom of movement for EU students – Catherine Barnard for City A.M. We owe it to everybody to accelerate UK’s success as a digital economy – Gavin Patterson for the Daily Telegraph Those commentators on the losing side of 2016’s elections are realising they were the ones ill-informed – not about ‘the issues’, but about their fellow citizens – Henry Hill for Comment Central Brexit News in Brief Leadsom first out of blocks with 25 Year Brexit plan – Guido Fawkes ‘Unique’ Britain could negotiate more than six trade deals at once after Brexit, says top civil servant – PoliticsHome Investor who predicted Brexit now says the euro will collapse – The Independent London’s allure for wealthy expats survives EU vote – F.T. (£) Topps Tiles posts record sales despite post-Brexit slump – Retail Gazette Patisserie Valerie’s owner reports profits and revenue are still growing – City A.M. Buyers return to market as mortgage approvals recover in October – Daily Mail SNP ‘treated EU referendum like it was a council by-election’ – Evening Express French region courts UK businesses post-Brexit – Sky News Building firms fear ‘skills gulf’ under hard Brexit – Sky News Hungary calls for ‘immediate’ EU accession talks for Balkans – Politico