Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team CBI demands Britain stays in Single Market and Customs Union indefinitely as business leaders meet David Davis David Davis will be confronted by business leaders on Friday demanding an indefinite delay in Britain’s departure from the Single Market and the Customs Union. The Brexit Secretary has invited some of Britain’s most senior executives to his grace-and-favour residence at Chevening in Kent for an informal summit. In a major escalation of the business community’s attempt to soften Brexit, the CBI group last night called on the Government to reach an open-ended “transitional deal” with the European Union to protect businesses… It will raise fears that with no time limit applied to the transition deal, Britain may never effectively leave the EU, leading to accusations the group is trying to derail by stealth Britain’s decision to leave the EU. – Telegraph (£) A transition period has been on the U.K.’s Brexit agenda for some time. But the model proposed by [CBI Director General Carolyn] Fairbairn, who was immediately backed by political supporters of a soft Brexit, represents a “maximum continuity” option… Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer swung behind the CBI, although he stopped short of calling for full continued single market membership during any transition. “Labour agree that we need an early commitment to ensure strong transitional arrangements, and that these should be on similar terms to those we currently enjoy,” he said in response to the speech. Chuka Umunna, senior Labour MP and a leading figure in the soft-Brexit campaign group Open Britain, went further. “If the government is serious about protecting jobs and our economy, they should heed the CBI’s call for a transition agreement that keeps Britain in the single market and the customs union,” he said. – Politico UK business leaders to call for indefinite delay in leaving single market – Guardian CBI seeks single market access until final Brexit deal – Sky News Delay trade deals and stay in single market, urges CBI – The Times (£) Who are the CEOs who got tickets to a country mansion to talk Brexit – Bloomberg The UK prime minister must listen and act on business Brexit concerns – FT editorial (£) Businesses and ministers must unite to make a success of Brexit – Adam Marshall, British Chambers of Commerce Director General for the Telegraph (£) Why the complexities of Brexit should be met with simplicity – Rain Newton-Smith, CBI Chief Economist for The Times (£) BBC would rather see Britain fail than Brexit succeed, suggests Liam Fox The International Trade Secretary made the suggestion as he responded to a question from Nigel Evans, a Tory MP, who asked about the “negative” coverage of Brexit in the press. MPs have become increasingly critical of the broadcaster since the referendum. In October last year Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, hit out at the corporation’s “infuriating” and “shamelessly anti-Brexit coverage”. Dr Fox told the Commons: “It does appear that some elements of our media would rather see Britain fail than Brexit succeed. I cannot recall a single time in recent times when I have seen good economic news that the BBC did not describe as “despite Brexit”. It comes after MPs from across the political spectrum called for new guidelines to ensure the broadcaster is “impartial.” – Telegraph Theresa May ‘unable to bring ministers in line’ claims former government aide James Chapman – Sky News Out-of-touch BBC has to stop talking Brexit Britain down – Express editorial > WATCH International Trade Questions highlights via BrexitCentral: Fox: The BBC always describes good economic news as ‘despite Brexit’ Fox warns EU: World economy will suffer with no deal Fox: Free trade helps the world’s poor International Trade Questions in full Frictionless trade impossible if UK leaves EU single market, claims Michel Barnier… The UK cannot leave the EU single market and keep the benefits, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has said in his first major speech since talks began last month. Michel Barnier said he had warned the British government there was no cost-free way to leave the single market and said some people in the UK had not understood that Britain cannot leave the EU without losing out. “I have heard some people in the UK argue that one can leave the single market and keep all of its benefits. That is not possible,” he told the EU’s economic and social committee. – Guardian The EU is ‘running scared’ after realising Britain may walk away from their ‘ridiculous’ Brexit demands, Tory MEP claims – The Sun …as Jeremy Corbyn prepares to meet Barnier next week to talk Brexit U.K. opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn is set to meet the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier next week to “outline” the Labour Party’s position on the Brexit talks. The meeting will take place next week, Corbyn told Bloomberg. A Commission source confirmed the meeting. “Fundamentally we want to make sure there is a tariff-free trade access to the European market because it is crucial. Half of our trade is with Europe,” said Corbyn, adding his party will push to guarantee the rights of EU citizens in the U.K. as well for the U.K. not to become an “offshore tax haven on the shores of Europe.” It will be the first encounter between Barnier and the Labour leader. – Politico Corbyn to talk Brexit with Barnier – Bloomberg > WATCH via BrexitCentral: Corbyn: We want access, not membership of the single market City warns Europe it will lose out if Britain is cut adrift… The City is directly pressing the EU for continued access after Brexit by arguing that cutting it off will add costs to Europe, according to the former minister who led a delegation to Brussels this week… Mark Hoban, who is a former City minister, told Sky News: “We want to minimise the disruption caused to European businesses and households by losing access to the sorts of services that are concentrated here in the City.” He said the City wanted a “strong, open relationship”, acknowledging that it would be outside the single market, but with “high levels of access”. Mr Hoban said that with a huge concentration of banks, asset managers, lawyers, accountants and insurers in London, firms came from across Europe to do business in London. “It will actually be a cost to them if we leave the EU and they have no access to the services in London,” he said. – Sky News …as Barclays chairman John McFarlane calls for euro clearing to stay in London with shared oversight with Brussels John McFarlane, who also chairs The CityUK lobby group, said that fragmenting the clearing industry and moving parts of it away from the UK will lead to higher costs for financial firms, which would be unattractive. “We already have the world’s most economic offering with the minimum capital utilisation and the most competitive costs to participants and to their clients,” he said. “If the price of resolution to this is shared regulatory oversight then it is a price worth accepting.” …The EU wants to wrest the lucrative industry away from the UK, where some $574bn (£443bn) of euro-denominated derivatives are traded each day. “It won’t work if it moves,” added Mr McFarlane, who was speaking at The CityUK’s annual conference in London… Mr McFarlane also repeated be financial industry’s call for the UK and EU to agree a transition period to ease the country’s departure from Europe once a Brexit deal is reached. – Telegraph City watchdog chief pushes for Brexit transition deal for financial services – Telegraph We don’t need single market to get EU free trade: UK bank regulator head blasts negativity – Express If the EU chooses not to work with UK regulators, it will shoot itself in the foot – Juliet Samuel for the Telegraph (£) > WATCH via BrexitCentral: Barclays’ chairman: London clearing business will be safe after Brexit Government lost £15bn by flogging off bank assets too cheaply thanks to EU rules British taxpayers lost out on £15billion because state-owned assets were flogged off far too cheaply thanks to EU rules, it emerged today. Brussels forced the UK to sell several of the assets owned by Royal Bank of Scotland in the aftermath of the financial crisis… Worldpay was sold to a private equity company for £2billion, but was yesterday bought by an American firm for £9billion… One reason for the mass sell-off is that EU rules require any bailed-out bank to shed assets so money can be returned to the state as quickly as possible. But if the priority for selling assets is speed, investors are able to snap up bargains which could leave the Government short-changed. Tory MP John Penrose slammed the EU over the losses, telling the FT: “EU regulators forced a distress sale, which immediately meant it was a buyer’s market where taxpayers wouldn’t get the returns they deserved.” – The Sun RBS fire sales meant UK taxpayers lost out on potential £15bn – FT (£) Will Britain please stop selling success stories like Worldpay down the river? – Jeremy Warner for the Telegraph (£) Worldwide sales of British cheeses up 29% as exports rise Exports of cheese from Britain have increased in the first three months of the year with worldwide sales up 29% to almost £143 million. Latest figures from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) show almost 40,000 tonnes of cheese were exported around the world in the first quarter of 2017, a rise of 3% compared to the same time last year. The lion’s share was destined for the EU where exports grew by eight percent, rising to 32,479 tonnes. One of the biggest growth markets was Asia and Oceania where exports rose by 36% to 1,798 tonnes. – Farming UK Shanker A. Singham: Lingering in the EEA and Customs Union would guarantee a bad Brexit Other countries are looking at the UK as being a potential partner whose attraction is not only its size, but also the fact that we would be more open than the EU with respect to our regulatory structure and domestic environment. If we are merely identical to the EU but smaller, we will not be a particularly attractive partner. If we are temporarily in the EEA and Customs Union, this will simply mean that we are a full EU member in the eyes of other countries, and they will put their agreement discussions with us on hold, and return to their previous trade agenda – perhaps a little wistful about a lost opportunity. Furthermore, the great danger of the EEA agreement temporary solution, which has also been proposed, is that we would become a rule taker with a rule-making body which has traditionally been checked from anti-competitive regulation by our presence. If we are no longer a brake, we can be certain of more rules that are distortive to market competition which we will have to adopt. – Shanker A. Singham for ConservativeHome Asa Bennett: David Cameron wants Brexit Britain to be like Norway. Has he forgotten why he used to hate that idea? Norway was a hot topic during the referendum campaign, and no one took on the Norwegian model with more vigour than this senior Conservative, who warned his colleagues “very strongly” against the idea: “Norway pays as much per head into the EU as we do. When it comes to migration, they actually have many more people coming to live and work in Norway than we do. And yet while they pay, they don’t get a say. They don’t have a seat around the table, they don’t have a chance to influence the debate and get things done in Europe in the way that we do, so it’s not a good option for Britain.” … Who was this Norway-sceptic? None other than David Cameron, who is said to be championing that very same model. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Peter Foster: Macron the Menace – Why the new French president is Britain’s Brexit nemesis Officially the French line is that there is no desire to “punish” Britain over Brexit, but this is really just a question of semantics. Mr Macron has been very clear Brexit must be an advertisement for both the perils of leaving the European Union – and more importantly, the benefits of membership… October 2018, when the Brexit negotiations reach their climax, could be precisely the moment that we see “peak Macron” – the French leader teetering between securing his grand new vision for France in Europe, even as it starts to dawn on everyone else that German enthusiasm and Mr Macron’s reforms, both have their limits. The risk, says one senior British diplomat, is that if Macron’s star power is starting to fade, then “Brexit Britain must be made to look ten times worse” in order to make the case for EU ‘solidarity’. In this scenario Mr Macron becomes a fundamentally polarising force. If that happens, then the vision of a controlled, constructive Brexit that leaves both sides free to prosper as good neighbours, will become almost impossible to realise. – Peter Foster for the Telegraph (£) The Sun: Remainers risk voters’ wrath by claiming that Brexit decision can be reversed Some excitable Remainers are seizing on the Tories’ weakness and concluding the referendum can be reversed. Even some leavers are wobbling now the Government seems so fragile. How does anyone imagine overturning the Brexit decision would pan out? Voters’ rage would be off the scale and unprecedented. And who could blame them? The most recent surveys show a big majority wanting to get on with leaving. Only a month ago the two main parties both stood on pro-Brexit platforms. Meanwhile investment is pouring in at record levels and has created 75,000 jobs in a year. Some £2.4billion has been put into our tech firms, dwarfing investment in Germany and France. Oddly, that’s not topping BBC bulletins. Unlike some in Government, we don’t expect the Beeb to cheerlead for Brexit. But would it kill our national broadcaster to give it a fair hearing? – The Sun says I know in my heart that Brexit can be stopped – Alastair Campbell for the Independent Fraser Nelson: The EU-Japan ‘trade deal’ illusion There is much celebration in Brussels today about what’s being described as a EU-Japan trade deal, but for political rather than economic reasons… But here’s the snag: there isn’t, actually, a deal. It’s just spin. It’s an ‘outline,’ a ‘political’ agreement, the sort that is the basis for a deal – and (at best) a staging post to a deal that may or may not be done in two years’ time… All this will take until 2019 and it then it needs to be approved by all 28 (or, by that time, 27) member states. And then tariffs will stay in place for seven years – so even if all goes well we’re looking at about another ten years before it would come off. – Fraser Nelson for the Spectator Brexit comment in brief Could China be the new best friend for a post-Brexit Britain? – Jacob Dreyer for the New Statesman How does Brexit collapse and how does the UK stay in the EU exactly? – Iain Martin for Reaction Solving the productivity puzzle will help boost Brexit Britain – Rachel Reeves MP for The Times (£) Spirit of optimism helped to win the EU referendum – Express editorial Brexit gives us the freedom to get tough on Iran – Bob Blackman MP for ConservativeHome Donald Trump’s politics is more popular in Europe than its liberal leaders care to admit – Fraser Nelson for the Telegraph (£) Sovereignty still makes sense, even in a globalised world – Robert Tombs for the FT (£) Brexit news in brief Brexit will ‘undoubtedly’ damage Britain’s influence on world stage, says William Hague – Independent Stewart Jackson tapped for David Davis job – Guido Fawkes European shares sink to 11-week low and euro edges up after ECB opens door to removing bond-buying pledge – Telegraph ‘Hard or soft Brexit is nonsense, we are leaving the EU’, Jacob Rees–Mogg declares – Express Limiting UK’s access to EU workers ‘will put business growth at risk’, finds study – Independent Donald Tusk appears to mock Britain after EU-Japan trade deal agreed – Sky News Cyprus pleads with EU to keep UK close to protect economy – Express ‘Disrespecting the rules!’ Eurozone crisis veteran’s fury at Italy’s troubling bank rescue – Express