Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team ‘Positive’ mood as business leaders talk Brexit with David Davis at Chevening… UK business has long complained the government has kept it in the deep freeze on Brexit. That changed dramatically on Friday, when more than 30 business leaders were summoned to the heat of Chevening House to hammer out a strategy for leaving the EU… One chief executive said the mood was generally positive: “Things were really bad between business and the government before the election. This definitely felt like a resetting of relations.” Inevitably details of the exchanges began to leak out. Iain Conn, chief executive of Centrica, challenged Mr Davis on whether Britain should stay in the EU customs union, at least during a transition period after Brexit. But Mr Davis, who was joined at the event by business secretary Greg Clark and City minister Stephen Barclay, warned them that it would be politically impossible to retain quasi-EU membership after the scheduled leaving date in March 2019. – FT (£) …while Philip Hammond welcomes ‘helpful’ intervention of business on transitional structures Mr Hammond told Reuters and Bloomberg he welcomed the ‘helpful’ intervention of business. The Chancellor, who is in Hamburg at the G20, said: ‘My preference is that we negotiate a transitional structure which takes us outside of those memberships but in the transition phase replicates as much as possible of the existing arrangements, so that the shock to business is minimised for the transition period. Our ambition for the long term is to negotiate a deep and comprehensive agreement with the EU.’ – Daily Mail UK’s Hammond wants transitional Brexit deal to minimise business shock – Daily Mail Philip Hammond warns Theresa May it would be ‘madness’ not to seek closest possible ties with EU – Telegraph (£) Davis charms business while Hammond goes rogue in Hamburg – Politico People want a ‘sensible Brexit’, says Philip Hammond – Guardian It would be `madness´ not to seek close post-Brexit link with EU – Hammond – Daily Mail Philip Hammond demands close ties with EU while Theresa May uses G20 to woo US and China – Telegraph Free trade deals will have limited benefits for UK after Brexit, Chancellor Philip Hammond warns – Independent Delay trade deals and stay in single market, urge business leaders – The Times (£) Remainers using permanent transition to reverse Brexit – Guido Fawkes Phil’s gone soft – The Sun Theresa May tells G20: UK will be ‘bold’ on world stage Theresa May has rejected claims the UK is losing global influence because of Brexit, insisting it will continue to be “bold” on the world stage. Speaking at the G20 summit in Hamburg, the prime minister said in areas like free trade and counter-terrorism, the UK remained a key international player. Amid speculation about her future after the election, she said she would take a lead, not “sit back” and be “timid” – BBC Theresa May has pledged to stay Prime Minister for the entirety of the two-year Brexit negotiating process … Asked during a visit to Hamburg for the G20 whether those sitting around the table expected her to be in place as leader in two years time, the Prime Minister said: “Yes. We will be playing our absolutely full part and I’ll be playing my full part and the issues that we are discussing are important.” – Independent Donald Trump expects ‘very powerful’ US-UK trade deal… US President Donald Trump has said he expects to reach a “very powerful” trade deal with the UK after it leaves the EU. He also hailed the “very special relationship” he had forged with Theresa May as the two leaders met for talks on the fringes of the G20 summit in Hamburg. Mr Trump said he expected to reach a trade agreement with Britain “very, very quickly” and that it would be great for both countries. – Sky News Britain to push ahead with lucrative new US trade deal – Express UK-US trade deal to happen quickly, says Trump – BBC …as May talks future trade deals with Trump, China and Japan Theresa May could be using the G20 summit this week to organise secret trade deals with major non-European Union countries for after Brexit. World leaders have gathered in Hamburg today for the twelfth G20 summit – and while climate change and migration are set to be key topics of debate, Mrs May may have another ulterior motive. The British Prime Minister is hoping to hold bilateral meetings with a number of representatives from the world’s 19 major economies as she seeks to secure vital trade deals following the UK’s departure from the European Union. – Express Labour and Lib Dems plan to amend Great Repeal Bill Theresa May faces a battle to get a key piece of Brexit legislation through Parliament, opponents have warned. Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said it was “highly likely” Labour would seek to amend the Repeal Bill, which aims to convert EU legislation into British law. The SNP, Lib Dems and Green MP Caroline Lucas will also press for changes. The bill, described by the PM as an “essential step” to EU withdrawal – was the centrepiece of the Queen’s Speech – BBC City cheers looming end of euro-clearing London was supposed to be angry at potentially losing its nearly €1 trillion-a-day euro-clearing business. But maybe not. U.K. regulators and senior City officials are rejoicing at the possibility of losing regulatory oversight of London’s lucrative euro-clearing business to the EU…. At a conference in London on Thursday it became clear that bank chiefs and regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority’s Andrew Bailey, would rather relinquish oversight of clearing houses to EU supervisors post-Brexit than see clearing of euro-denominated derivatives move into the eurozone. – Politico George Osborne’s ‘Project Fear’ warnings during EU referendum were wrong George Osborne’s “project fear” warnings during the EU referendum campaign were wrong, the official spending watchdog has found. The former Chancellor ordered Treasury officials to compile two reports on the economic risks of leaving the European Union which were published in the run up to the vote. The reports, which provoked a furious response from eurosceptic Tory MPs, warned Brexit could lead to a “severe shock” and wipe as much as £36billion a year from the public finances. However an analysis by the National Audit Office has concluded that some of the key assumptions behind the report were wrong. – Telegraph (£) Former EU president blames Brussels’ bad attitude’ on Brexit Joseph Muscat, who has just ended his six-month term as European Union’s president, has blasted the bloc’s leaders for their “bad attitude” towards post-Brexit Britain. The Maltese prime minister said Brussels was wrong “to laugh in the face of” eurosceptics, which has ultimately give British voters enough reason to quit the political project. Last Tuesday, Mr Muscat declared Brexit was a “disastrous creature” the EU “did nothing to stop” while appearing to take aim at the bloc’s handling of David Cameron’s demands for reform in Brussels before the referendum was held last June.- Express Belgians can supposedly ‘fish British waters for eternity’ thanks to 1666 Royal decree Flemish politicians have claimed that Belgian fishermen have “eternal rights” to fish in British waters, even after Brexit, thanks to a 1666 Royal decree. The ancient charter, issued by King Charles II, could make a mockery of Britain’s efforts to take back control of its seas by pulling out of the London Convention. The 1964 convention allows certain countries, including Belgium, to fish in British waters. Geert Bourgeois, the prime minister of the Belgian region of Flanders said today, that the “fisheries privilege” granted 50 fishermen from Bruges access to British waters “for eternity”. – Telegraph (£) Wetherspoon’s boss blasts ‘unelected’ EU Brexit negotiators The boss of pub chain Wetherspoon lambasted the European Union saying its Brexit negotiators were “unelected” and trying to impose rules on Britain. Tim Martin, founder of JD Wetherspoon, said it was “unacceptable” for Brussels bureaucrats to impose laws on the UK. Radio host Justin Webb put it to the pub chain boss that employers would lose out from Britain’s withdrawal from the EU. Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI has said it was “time to be realistic” and the UK needed “a bridge to the new EU deal” as business leaders demand an indefinite delay in Britain’s exit from the single market, to give more time for talks on a long-term trade deal. – Express EU quota meddling ‘could see UK shelves empty of butter and cream for Christmas’ Britain’s shelves will be bare of cream and butter by Christmas because of EU meddling in markets, farmers warned today. And what festive cream and butter products there are will be cripplingly expensive – meaning families might have to eat their mince pies dry and skip the brandy butter… The boss of a dairy giant said that because of a fumbled EU scheme aimed at reducing production there was insufficient milk being supplied by farmers to create vital dairy products. – Express Ex-minister David Jones lashes BBC host for claim UK isn’t ready to replace EU law A former Brexit minister blasted John Humphrys after the BBC host said the Government hasn’t “got the hang” of how to replace European lawmaking.David Jones told Humphrys he was “absolutely wrong” as the radio presenter said replacing European Court of Justice jurisdiction with the Repeal Bill was “immensely complicated”… The MP for Clwyd West hit back and said there would be British bodies and ministers replacing EU institutions. He said: “That’s absolutely wrong. The bill, as you rightly say, is going to be complicated but what it will be doing is setting up arrangements so that there will be British institutions who will be replacing the EU institutions. – Express David Jones: Brexit is complicated but will succeed – BBC Telegraph: Resistance to Brexit is futile Brexit is going to happen: claims to the contrary are time-wasting mischief. Britain voted to leave the EU; in June more than 80 per cent of voters backed pro-Brexit parties. Negotiations are under way. If there is any serious domestic debate to be had it is over transitional arrangements. Militant Remainers prefer to engage in pointless grandstanding. Take the Repeal Bill, which next week begins its journey through Parliament. The Bill is purely procedural. It repeals the 1972 European Communities Act while, for the sake of ease and meeting the trading standards of Europe, all existing EU legislation is translated into domestic UK law. – Telegraph editorial (£) Mark Wallace: The CBI has been reliably wrong on just about every major issue Yesterday, David Davis hosted a variety of people at Chevening to discuss the post-Brexit settlement. The Confederation of British Industry in particular has chosen this moment to launch a PR barrage arguing that we should stay in the Single Market and the Customs Union for an unspecified “limited period of transition”. This is, of course, presented as a temporary facilitation of Brexit – though anyone acquainted with the CBI’s views on the EU, and the wishes of some Continuity Remainers to bog down and then undo the decision, might harbour some justified scepticism about their stated aims. – Mark Wallace for ConservativeHome Asa Bennett: Labour fights for both soft and hard Brexit. This two-faced pitch cannot last How would Labour handle Brexit? A frontbench spokesman should be able to easily answer that question, but sadly for last night’s Question Time audience in Burton-on-Trent they had to rely on Richard Burgon for enlightenment. Mr Burgon, somehow the shadow secretary of state for justice, declared that Labour would drive for an “economy-first and jobs-first” Brexit. Would this involve staying in or leaving the Single Market and the Customs Union? As a close supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, Comrade Burgon should be familiar with what the line is, but he wouldn’t say either way. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) ‘Labour’s looking both ways on Brexit and it helped us in the election’ – Chopper’s Brexit Podcast – Telegraph Stephen Booth: What to expect when the Repeal Bill lands in the Commons next week The Government is next week expected to table its (no-longer ‘Great’) Repeal Bill in the House of Commons. First Reading takes place without debate, so any parliamentary fireworks will be delayed until the autumn and after the recess, when the Bill is likely to return for Second Reading and Committee stage. But the political battles over this piece of legislation could make the Article 50 debates look like a sideshow. – Stephen Booth for Open Europe Henry Newman: If the EU can strike a free trade, customs-friendly deal with Japan, why not with Britain too? The Japan proposal provides yet another example of a potential deep and comprehensive trade agreement of the very sort the UK itself will want to agree with the EU once we leave. The EU was already willing to sign up to a comprehensive free trade arrangement (FTA), with customs cooperation, with an economy right across the Atlantic: Canada. Surely, we should be able to agree a similar deal for the UK. – Henry Newman for ConservativeHome Brexit comment in brief Brexit bogged down and British business needs a boost – Mark Fox for Reaction Peter Oborne: Jeremy Corbyn may be Brexit saviour – Peter Oborne for the Daily Mail May alone as leaders shun Brexit Britain – Catherine Philp for The Times (£) The Guardian view on Brexit and business: speaking for Britain – Guardian editorial Has the EU really solved its refugee crisis? – Tubakovic and Murray for Reaction Brexit news in brief Defence Secretary vows to use Brexit to build stronger links with US military – The Sun MEPs cheer Jim Nicholson and reject NI special status after Brexit – Belfast News Letter Osborne considers hiring Europe Editor – Guido Fawkes France steps up efforts to lure London banks to Paris – Daily Mail Naked skydivers bid for world record in plea for Brexit unity – Reuters UK starting salaries jump as Brexit vote hits staff supply – Reuters Where the Brits are buying to beat Brexit – The Times (£) ‘It’s very clear’ Hilarious moment Remainer confronted with EU referendum ballot paper – Express Theresa May faces diplomatic storm as her MPs threaten to walk out of state address by the Spanish King over Gibraltar – The Sun