Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team May and Davis head to Brussels later for talks with Juncker and Barnier Prime Minister Theresa May will travel to Brussels on Monday to meet with the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and head of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, May’s office said on Sunday. May will travel with Brexit minister David Davis for the meetings which her office said were a long-planned part of the prime minister’s build up to a European Council summit on Thursday. – Reuters May urges Merkel to end stand-off over Brexit… Theresa May has personally urged Angela Merkel to end the Brexit stand-off at this week’s EU summit in Brussels after Berlin and Paris led moves to toughen the EU’s negotiating line in the next phase of talks. France and Germany have pushed for changes to a draft paper prepared for Thursday’s summit to avoid giving the impression that the EU will agree guidelines on a transition period as soon as “sufficient progress” has been made in addressing divorce issues such as the exit bill, according to top diplomats. – FT (£) …as German business leader calls on Merkel to speed up the talks process Dr Bernd Atenstaedt, chairman of German Industry UK, which represents 250 companies in Britain employing 250,000 people, said: “We expect Mrs Merkel to calm matters down in Brussels and will be calling on her to speed up the process. Our businesses want clarity and a very good future relationship with the UK. It’s so important because we depend a lot on the UK.” He added: “What we want is to continue with free access and no tariff barriers. The UK is one of our most important locations and markets.” – Sunday Express Transport Secretary Chris Grayling doesn’t think Britain will leave EU without a deal (but we should prepare for it as a precaution)… Chris Grayling said on Sunday he didn’t think Britain would leave the European Union without a negotiated deal with the bloc. “I don’t think we’ll get to that position,” Grayling, a leading campaigner for ‘Leave’ at least year’s referendum, told the BBC when asked what the consequences of leaving without a deal would be. Grayling also said he thought there was no danger of Brexit stopping airlines being able to fly into and out of the country. He said he believed Britain would end up remaining a member of the European Aviation Safety Agency, which oversees safety legislation. – Reuters > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube: Chris Grayling on Marr – No Deal will hurt EU most …as he suggests UK farmers could boost food production to prevent ‘no deal’ price hikes UK farmers will be encouraged to “grow more here” to prevent increases in food prices potentially caused by a no deal Brexit, a senior Cabinet minister has suggested. Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, said he believed Britain and Brussels will be able to reach a “sensible agreement” on the UK’s terms of withdrawal from the European Union. – Telegraph Labour in talks with Tory rebels to block no-deal Brexit, says John McDonnell… Labour is in talks with Conservative MPs on a parliamentary veto to prevent the UK leaving the EU without a deal, the shadow chancellor has revealed. John McDonnell said Labour would not countenance a no-deal outcome, and that it would be disastrous for the UK to revert to World Trade Organisation rules “because the damage to the economy will be so great”. He said there was no majority in the House of Commons for allowing such an exit from the bloc. – FT (£) > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube: John McDonnell on Marr – no deal not an option …as Labour backbenchers urge Corbyn to let the rebel Tories lead efforts to block ‘no deal’ Brexit… Backbenchers have warned the Labour leadership to let rebel Conservative MPs lead the opposition to the EU withdrawal bill, after the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said his party was talking to Tory MPs to block any prospect of a “no deal” Brexit. His comments sparked concern from Labour and Conservative backbenchers who believe Tory MPs are not likely to be won over to support the amendment if it can be construed as being orchestrated by McDonnell or the Labour frontbench. – Guardian …while Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer confirms Labour may agree to continue paying into EU coffers to trade indefinitely after Brexit Labour may agree to continue paying into EU coffers to trade indefinitely after Brexit, its Shadow Brexit Secretary admitted yesterday. Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would consider getting out their chequebook for continued payments for access to the single market. He told ITV’s Peston on Sunday Britain’s exit bill should be kept “as low as possible”. But he repeated Labour’s demand on equivalent access to the single market post-Brexit as a sign of the deal’s success. – The Sun > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube: Keir Starmer on Peston – No deal not an option Boris Johnson deploys row boat diplomacy at Chevening House as he hosts European foreign ministers Boris Johnson is no stranger to high-risk photo opportunities but his decision to take a fellow foreign minister out in a rowing boat turned out to be plain sailing. The Foreign Secretary hosted senior figures from eight of the UK’s eastern EU allies at Chevening House, his official residence, on Sunday. It came just days before a crucial EU summit which will see European leaders decided whether sufficient progress has been made on crucial Brexit issues to allow negotiations to move onto future trading arrangements. – Telegraph Liam Fox hits back at Remoaner claims about his department’s staff International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has hit back at claims his negotiators don’t have enough experience to strike deals with the US and other countries post-Brexit, describing them as the “A-Team”. Dr Fox said his staff were “young and dynamic” after the environmental campaign group, Greenpeace, claimed his 20-strong team was outgunned by 77 seasoned negotiators in preliminary talks in Washington in July. In a reference to the 1980s hit TV series, The A-Team, he said: “I’m very proud of my trade A-Team, who are working hard to make the most of new global opportunities. The department has recruited the best and brightest talent, with significant interest from inside and outside the Civil Service. – Sunday Express Lack of transitional deal will damage thousands of European manufacturers Manufacturers across Europe today warned that a failure to secure “meaningful” transitional Brexit arrangements by the end of the year would throw a spanner in the works for the sector’s supply chains. The council of European employers of the metal, engineering and technology-based industries (Ceemet), which represents 200,000 companies providing 35m jobs, said that Brexit negotiations must deliver a “reasonable deal in a reasonable time” to protect the growth provided by Europe’s factories. – City A.M. Brexiteers fear ‘Swiss Trap’ trade deal In their search for a model for trade relations with the EU after Brexit, British Euroskeptics have a new watchword: Beware the “Swiss Trap.” While Brexit negotiators in Brussels try to break the “deadlock” in the hope of convincing EU leaders that enough progress has been made to move discussions on to future trade relations, at home the British government is in furious debate with itself about what the optimal outcome of such talks would be. – Politico Senior figures from the devolved nations to discuss Brexit with government ministers today A meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee on Brexit, which is made up of representatives of the four governments across the UK and is intended to ensure all voices are heard in the process of leaving the European Union, will be held today. Wales, as well as Scotland and Northern Ireland, has repeatedly called for a say in the Brexit process. – South Wales Argus DUP claim they do not recognise reported Brexit criticism of Philip Hammond Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said on Sunday that they did not recognise comments criticising Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond attributed to a DUP source in a newspaper report. – Reuters Finance chiefs report confidence on the rise The latest quarterly survey of finance officers, undertaken by Deloitte, has found that just under two thirds expect leaving the European Union to harm the business environment, down from nearly three quarters. However, Britain’s departure from the bloc still tops the risk list for most finance chiefs. – Times (£) Austrian conservative set to become world’s youngest leader Austria’s conservative People’s Party, led by 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz, is set to win the country’s general election, projections suggest. The victory would make Mr Kurz the world’s youngest national leader. The People’s Party was set to win more than 31%. It is so far unclear whether the Social Democrats or the far-right Freedom Party will finish second. Short of a majority, Mr Kurz’s party could seek an alliance with the anti-immigration Freedom Party. – BBC News Wolfgang Munchau: London is right to prepare for no deal on Brexit Neither Germany nor France are politically in a position to provide additional finance to cover the UK’s liabilities. My conclusion is that the UK is right to prepare for a no-deal Brexit. It is right to allocate funding for this. The pitiful “no deal is better than a bad deal” episode is mercifully over. London is also right to state its strong preference for a deal, but it would be irresponsible not to prepare for an event with a small, but clearly not zero, probability. – Wolfgang Munchau for the FT (£) Roger Bootle: Why a ‘no-deal’ scenario could be the best outcome from Brexit negotiations Admittedly, our path would be easier if we managed to secure a wide-ranging settlement, including a free-trade agreement (FTA). This is exactly what the Prime Minister laid out as the objective in her excellent Lancaster House speech in January. But securing an FTA with the EU was never the point of Brexit. After all, if successful, such an agreement would merely continue the trading arrangements that exist now. So if Brexit has an economic point, it cannot possibly be this. – Roger Bootle for the Telegraph (£) Matt Ridley: Freed from Europe, our fisheries can flourish Among the few certainties of Brexit, one is that we will need a new, bespoke, British fisheries policy. The prime minister has confirmed that we will be leaving the Common Fisheries Policy. The fishing industry, though a small part of the economy, is highly symbolic, having been cheaply betrayed on entry into the European Union, when we donated to our EU partners the chance to fish a vast sea area. – Matt Ridley for the Times (£) The Sun: Remoaner Philip Hammond is trying to make Brexit seem like the apocalypse — no wonder the cabinet is sick of him undermining negotiations His apocalyptic warning that planes would be grounded when we leave the EU was clearly nonsense, as the Transport Secretary confirmed yesterday. It’s no wonder the Cabinet seem to be sick of his Remoaner-in-Chief act. The effort he puts into his glass-half-empty predictions on Brexit should instead be going into pulling together his November Budget. His first attempt last year was a disaster, with a planned raid on the self-employed binned after a campaign by The Sun and backbench MPs. – The Sun Trevor Kavanagh: We need to hope Philip Hammond rips up his dry-as-dust Autumn Budget and puts some pre-Brexit oomph into the UK‘s finances We can only hope history is replayed today as battered Phil Hammond rips up his dry-as-dust Autumn Budget and puts some pre-Brexit oomph into the nation’s finances. For that to happen, he needs to stop moaning, start batting for Britain, not Brussels, and let rip the animal spirits of UK construction, industry and commerce. – Trevor Kavanagh for The Sun Juliet Samuel: It’s right that MPs scrutinise the Brexit bill – but they must not be allowed to thwart it Shortly after the General Election, I feared the new makeup of Parliament would prove toxic for Brexit. The Government, I thought, wouldn’t be able to pass laws either to implement Brexit sensibly or prepare for a “no deal” collapse in talks. The EU, seeing our dilemma, would offer Britain a dreadful, take-it-or-leave-it deal as the only alternative to crashing out. – Juliet Samuel for the Telegraph (£) Martin Townsend: The EU’s position is ridiculous even by their own standards The irony of Barnier’s position is that the more awkward he is, the more former Remainers decide to join the Brexit lobby. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Treasury Chief Secretary Liz Truss have both now declared that if the referendum was re-run (which it is never going to be), they would vote for the Exit door. The country as a whole is also having a change of heart with so many alarmed Remainers fleeing to the Brexit side, according to a recent poll by YouGov, that the percentage of “hard” Remainers is now only 22 per cent. The damage being done by Barnier’s intransigence may not end there. – Martin Townsend for the Express Irwin Stelzer: Outfoxed Britain can still win at the Brexit talks Forgive an American for sticking his nose into the Brexit controversy. I know that because of various personal and policy failings our president is not popular in your country, and that has made all of us less liked in Britain. That’s a bit unfair, but so is life. As one who spent a good part of a few decades living among you, enjoying all that Britain has to offer, and who is indebted to your country for standing alone so many years ago while we dithered, it pains me to watch the beating Britain is taking at the hands of the superior negotiators atop the Brussels bureaucracy. – Irwin Stelzer for the Sunday Times (£) Brexit in brief Brexit must not sideline the need to solve our productivity problem – Rain Newton-Smith for the Times (£) Farming for our future – John Redwood MP for John Redwood’s Diary #DespiteBrexit – Andrea Leadsom MP on Andrea Leadsom’s blog From Austria to the UK, Europe is gripped by border anxiety. Conservatives must respond or perish – Daniel Johnson for the Telegraph (£) No threat to the Irish Common Travel Area from the UK – Ray Bassett for Policy Exchange In future “Britain may have a judge on the EFTA Court bench,” says its president – Prospect magazine Chancellor Hammond urges trade deal to save globalisation at IMF conference – Times (£) Fianna Fail leader calls on DUP and Sinn Fein to establish Executive to deal with Brexit – Belfast Telegraph UK reaffirms its commitment to islands over Brexit talks – Guernsey Press