Donald Tusk says Canada+++ Brexit trade deal is still on the table for the UK… Donald Tusk said on Thursday the EU was ready to offer Britain a “Canada +++” Brexit trade deal but warned the UK it would have to show more respect to Brussels to get it… “From the very beginning, the EU offer has been a Canada+++ deal. Much further-reaching on trade, internal security and foreign policy cooperation,” the former prime minister of Poland tweeted. “This is a true measure of respect. And this offer remains in place,“ he said after meeting Leo Varadkar, the prime minister of Ireland, in Brussels. – Telegraph (£) His remarks were met with jubilation by eurosceptics including ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who said they proved the PM’s soft Brexit plan was now a dead duck. The Polish eurocrat told Mrs May she has just two weeks to seal an exit package after holding talks with Irish leader Leo Varadkar in Brussels yesterday. He said: “From the very beginning, the EU offer has been not just a Canada deal, but a Canada plus plus plus deal. – The Sun Donald Tusk: Post-Brexit deal should be ‘as special as possible’ – Politico …but demands respect after Jeremy Hunt ‘insult’ comparing the EU to the USSR… Donald Tusk last night savaged Jeremy Hunt over his comparison of the EU to the Soviet Union – calling it “as unwise as it is insulting”. The EU Council chief, who grew up in Poland and was an anti-Communist activist, said the USSR was about “gulags” and the EU is about “freedom and human rights”. He stormed: “I know what I am talking about.” In an angry address he accused British politicians of “wasting time” in the Brexit negotiations by resorting to “emotional arguments”. – The Sun …and commits to finding a ‘workable solution’ for the Irish border… President of the European Council Donald Tusk has said it will not give up on a workable solution to the Irish border backstop. He was speaking after meeting Taoiseach Leo Varadkar who was in Brussels to hold meetings with key EU figures on finding a resolution to the Irish border backstop intensifies… The impasse over the Irish border remains a key sticking point, with the EU and UK unable to find common ground on the shape of a legally binding ‘backstop’ position that would ensure free movement across the frontier, even if a wider trade deal failed to materialise. – ITV News Seeking Brexit deal, EU eyes compromise on Irish border – Reuters …as Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says he wants a deal done by mid-November Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Thursday that Brexit talks were entering “a critical and ultimate phase” of negotiations and that he hoped a deal would be reached within the next month. “I’m very keen to see an agreement concluded by November, if at all possible,” Varadkar said. “It’s in the interest of Ireland, the European Union and the UK. We all really need to get down to business in the next few weeks to make that possible.” – Reuters Brexit deal ‘very close’ claim EU sources – after Irish PM Leo Varadkar revealed we are close to agreement – The Sun Theresa May’s failure to mention Chequers in conference speech ‘gives Barnier hope’ Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, has taken Theresa May’s failure to namecheck Chequers in her Tory conference speech as a sign that she may be ready to dump the plan and get realistic, according to sources in Brussels… It is understood that Barnier took some comfort from the absence of the word “Chequers” in May’s speech, although he noted that the prime minister had once again committed the government to “frictionless trade in goods”, an outcome that the EU has said cannot come to pass given the UK’s decision to leave the single market and the customs union. – Guardian Liam Fox says he will back less-than-perfect deal to get Brexit done Britain’s international trade secretary said he will back an imperfect Brexit deal with the European Union, on the basis it can be revised and improved after the U.K. has left the bloc. In an interview with Bloomberg this week, Liam Fox said he supports Prime Minister Theresa May’s blueprint for close trade ties with the EU — despite having “reservations.” Getting Brexit done is the priority, he said, because not implementing the referendum result would be disastrous for British politics. “We must leave, and we must leave on the 29th of March — not to deliver Brexit is the greatest political risk we could run,” said Fox, a longstanding euroskeptic who campaigned in 2016 for Britain’s exit from the bloc. “We should try to get as much of a final deal as we can get by the 29th of March, but it’s self-evident that if it’s a bilateral treaty, it can be revised later on.” – Bloomberg Galileo warning for EU: Satellite boss reveals UK already looking elsewhere British satellite company boss Stuart Martin admitted to feeling “bullish” about the future of the industry if the UK is barred from accessing the Galileo satellite system after Brexit. The British CEO appeared positive about the global prospects of the British space sector after Brexit. The European Union has threatened to stop Britain from using the shared Galileo satellite system after its withdrawal from the bloc due to security risks but Mr Martin insisted there are opportunities for the country all around the world. Mr Martin told Sky News his company has already begun to seek new commercial partnership with non-EU countries: “I am bullish. The great thing about space is that it’s a global industry. “When you think about the way satellites work, floating around the whole world, you can do business anywhere. We want to maintain a strong relationship with Europe but we are already looking at opportunities in North America, South America, Australasia, Asia.” – Express EU court may decide before Christmas if UK can unilaterally reverse Brexit Scotland’s Court of Session has asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling on whether the British parliament can change its mind about leaving the European Union without the bloc’s agreement, the Scottish court said on Thursday. Britain’s Conservative government is struggling to reach a deal with the EU on how it will leave the world’s biggest trading bloc as the March 29 exit date approaches. The petitioners, who represent Scottish voters, successfully argued to the Scottish court that if parliament is to vote on the government’s eventual Brexit deal, it needs legal certainty on whether the process can be reversed without permission from the other 27 EU states. – Reuters Trillions pound contracts may be sheltered from no deal Brexit, EU regulator hints Trillions of pounds worth of financial contracts at threat from a no deal Brexit may soon be protected after a senior EU regulator hinted at a compromise on the issue. Steven Maijoor, chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority told an audience in Athens that he favoured a transitional arrangement to allow EU firms to access clearing houses based in London, should the UK quit the bloc without a deal. Mr Maijoor said such a move was necessary in order avoid “risks to the stability of EU financial markets” if the contracts were thrown into doubt. While the City welcomed Mr Maijoor’s speech, the contract will not be considered properly safeguarded until the European Central Bank and Bank of England’s joint Technical Working Group have agreed a formal solution.- Telegraph (£) Study claims low-skilled men ‘most at risk’ from Brexit Men with few qualifications are most at risk of losing their jobs and struggling to find work if trade barriers go up after Britain leaves the European Union, a leading think tank has said. The warning from the Institute for Fiscal Studies came as Nissan, the Japanese company that accounts for 30 per cent of British car production, said that a no-deal Brexit would have serious implications for the industry. The study, produced for the largely state-funded Economic and Social Research Council, found that with Brexit only five months away, businesses were concerned that there was no clarity on a deal. – The Times (£) Brexit set to hit poorly educated men most, says IFS – FT (£) RBS boss warns ‘bad Brexit’ would tip UK into recession The boss of bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has warned that leaving the EU without a deal could trigger a recession. Ross McEwan, who took the helm of RBS five years ago, said that a “bad Brexit” could hit UK growth and knock the bank’s share price. “We are assuming 1-1.5pc growth for next year but if we get a very hard Brexit, then that could be zero or negative and that would affect our profitability and our share price,” he told the BBC. UK taxpayers stumped up £45bn to bail out RBS at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, and still own more than 60pc of the lender. – Telegraph (£) Iain Martin: Brexiteers, brace yourselves for a customs con Forget Theresa May cavorting across the Tory conference stage to Dancing Queen. The prime minister is about to try an even more convoluted manoeuvre. She will attempt to get the French president’s support for a compromise Brexit deal that Tory MPs can vote for. If she succeeds, Britain is heading for Common Market membership in all but name. If she fails, May will be lucky to avoid the sack. The Abba hit with most resonance over the next couple of months, as Brexit negotiations reach a climax, will not be Dancing Queen but Waterloo, recorded in 1973 when Britain joined the European Economic Community. The lyrics speak of the impossibility of escape and of Napoleon’s surrender. – Iain Martin for The Times (£) Telegraph: Donald Tusk’s offer is the basis of a better future relationship with Brussels Brussels should cease pretending that it is upset with Jeremy Hunt for comparing the EU with the Soviet Union. Apart from the likeness being quite strong – an ideological superstate continuing long after its bureaucratic economic plan had failed – EU officials never throw away an opportunity to abuse Britain, albeit often in anonymous private briefings. Senior EU diplomats recently said that Britain needed to experience its “darkest hour” before it will cave into Brussels’s demands. In that instance, their sense of history eluded them: Britain’s darkest hour was in fact followed by Britain and her allies liberating the continent from fascism. – Telegraph editorial (£) Patrick Robertson: Chequers is a ploy to keep the UK in the EU and would lead to a deeper constitutional crisis Britain’s constitutional crisis – underway for some time – has entered a new, more dangerous phase. To anyone who has read history, it is plain that the public reaction, when it finally comes, will be devastating to behold. No amount of dissimulation, manipulation or lies can disguise the truth: the Chequers plan is not a “compromise” or a negotiating position. It is the public face of a ploy to keep the UK inside the EU by tying our hands on rules governing goods, food, the environment, the workplace and much else, and maintaining the supremacy of European law in our country. – Patrick Robertson for the Telegraph (£) Leo McKinstry: A new form of Gallic hostility has emerged with a French President who fancies himself as another Napoleon In recent days, as talks with Brussels reach a crucial phase, it is our neighbour across the Channel that has become the biggest threat to Brexit. The stubbornness of the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier, a veteran French politician, is bad enough. But even worse than this abominable no-man is the jumped-up French President Emmanuel Macron, whose epic self-importance is not matched by either his physical stature or his political authority. With his vain delusions of grandeur, Macron — a man who once spent 26,000 euros in three months on make-up — fancies himself as a modern version of Napoleon, ready to dominate Europe by hammering the British. His government’s determination to make trouble over Brexit is ever more apparent. Only this week, Macron’s Europe minister Nathalie Loiseau solemnly declared that “no deal would be better than” Theresa May’s Chequers plan. – Leo McKinstry for The Sun Simon Jenkins: Banging your head over Brexit? Despite all the fury, we have to stay engaged The truth is that wherever I go, into a Welsh butcher’s shop, in a London pub, at a school gate or in a bus queue, the topic of conversation is the same. What about Brexit? It is a national fixation that has become more intense and lasting than any World Cup or royal wedding. Worse, no one has recourse to tribe, to “I always voted at my party’s call, I never thought of thinking for myself at all.” The parties are split. The tribes are in turmoil. Britain is a nation of thinking zombies. – Simon Jenkins for the Guardian Brexit in Brief What is a Canada-style free trade agreement and could it work for the UK? – Jasmine Andersson for iNews Worried France reveal no deal Brexit plans – Express Brexit creates caution despite positive outlook for SMEs – The Times (£) ‘This is not in your interest!’ Gibraltar turns tables on Spain with simple Brexit point – Express Unilever scraps plan to move HQ from London after huge investor backlash – Telegraph (£)