Theresa May rejects £50bn EU ‘divorce settlement’ figure Downing Street does not accept the proposal for the UK to pay up to £50bn in a divorce settlement with the EU…May’s spokesman rejected the £50bn figure, saying: “Negotiations have not begun and so that figure does not actually exist.” He added: “As was set out last night by my colleagues in Brussels, that is one of a range of issues that will have to be dealt with. The outcome of those negotiations will be something for the future.”- The Guardian Charge them rent for their Brussels HQ! Eurosceptics lash out after EU threatens £50 billion ‘divorce’ charge to cover lavish spending and generous pensions for officials – Daily Mail EU leaders only spent twenty minutes discussing Brexit on Thursday night after talks overran… Theresa May told EU leaders “I think I’d better leave now” after they met a short speech about her Brexit ambitions with silence. Shortly before leaving the summit in Brussels Mrs May made a brief presentation to the 27 leaders on the UK’s Brexit position, highlighting her desire to guarantee the rights of migrants… After Mrs May left EU leaders spent just twenty minutes discussing the issue of Brexit at a late night meeting. Donald Tusk, president of the European council, described it as a “short informal meeting”. – Daily Telegraph From Theresa no-mates to a key victory for Britain over Germany and France – five things we learnt from the EU Summit – Peter Foster for the Daily Telegraph (£) These are all the issues the European Union is now debating without us – Andrew Hammond for The Independent …as they agree their Brexit negotiation roadmap In a roadmap released Friday, the leaders outlined the working relationship between EU institutions and the way governments will keep track of and control the bloc’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier. To ensure Barnier represents the views of the EU 27 rather than just the European Commission, his team will include a representative of the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU “in order to ensure transparency and build trust.” A representative of Council President Donald Tusk will attend every meeting between Barnier and the British government “in a supporting role”… The European Council, the EU’s heads of state and government, will remain in overall charge of negotiations… At the ministerial level, the General Affairs Council — comprised of foreign or European affairs ministers — will take the lead… The European Parliament, after protests about being sidelined, will be invited to an exchange of views at the beginning of these meetings. – Politico MEPs threaten to negotiate directly with UK for ‘hardest possible Brexit’ if not given say – Daily Express Two years to agree Brexit deal is “naive”, warns Angela Merkel’s home affairs man “Naive” Theresa May faces a major battle to strike an EU trade deal within two years, a top German politician has warned. Stephan Mayer said it was “very ambitious” to think a Brexit pact could be reached alongside negotiations to leave the bloc. Mr Mayer, home affairs spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, said: “I think it’s very ambitious to finish these negotiations within two years. “It’s a huge project. Those who think it’s quite easy to conduct and finish these tremendous negotiations within the time frame of two years, I think they are a little bit naive.” – Daily Mirror House of Lords Committee looks ahead to Britain taking back control of its fishing waters Peers on the House of Lords European Union committee warned ministers not to sideline or sell short fishermen when it comes to Brexit negotiations starting next year. Other EU nations may demand more to UK waters than British fishermen would want, in exchange for the access our fleets need to sell on the Continent, cautioned peers. But despite being a relatively small proportion of the UK economy, commercial fishing is highly significant to many coastal communities, and a lot of fishermen were vocal supporters of Brexit, they noted. – Daily Express Read the report in full – House of Lords website Brexit boom: Surge for British economy as foreign tourists go on UK spending spree The vote to leave the EU triggered a boost in spend on shopping by foreign visitors to the UK. November saw a record increase in UK international tax-free spending, with a rise of 41 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to retail tourism specialist Global Blue. It was the highest increase in monthly spend since December 2013. – Daily Express Households ignore the results of Brexit vote – The Times (£) Lidl invests in post-Brexit Britain with a £70million headquarters and 5,000 new jobs Lidl is to create 5,000 jobs in London and invest £70 million in a new UK headquarters in the latest victory for the post-Brexit economy. The German budget supermarket said the jobs are part of plans to open nearly 250 new stores in London as it pushes ahead with a three-year £1.5 billion UK investment plan. Lidl has also received planning permission for a new 240,000 square feet head office in Tolworth, Kingston, where it will move 450 staff from Wimbledon. – Daily Mail FTSE climbs back above 7000 as UK manufacturing betters expectations – Daily Telegraph City of London continues to see robust commercial property sales post Brexit – Property Wire Business leaders want a Brexit plan – FT (£) Cornwall Council leads the way with a wish list of EU red tape it would like cut after Brexit A wish list of European red tape to be binned or retained is being drawn up as Cornwall shapes its future outside the EU after Brexit… Councillor John Pollard, leader of Cornwall Council, said it was leading the way in saying what the post-Brexit landscape will look like… In the wake of the referendum Cornwall Council convened a group of leading figures from the business, voluntary and public sector, and organised eight round-table discussions ranging from tourism to fishing, employment to energy, and farming to higher education… They have also begun to identify some of the positive opportunities when Article 50, the formal notice that the UK will leave the EU, is invoked. – Cornwall Live Switzerland retreats from migration quotas Switzerland on Friday pulled back from its proposals to impose quotas on migration after an almost three-year tussle with the EU that laid bare the difficulties Britain will face in Brexit talks. Switzerland and the European Commission have been locked in a battle of wills since February 2014, when Swiss voters sought to end “mass immigration” in a referendum. That direct challenge to one of the EU’s fundamental freedoms threatened to rupture the commercial ties that granted Switzerland access to the single market. – Politico Creative solutions are possible but EU refuses to compromise on legal principles – FT (£) Douglas Carswell MP: The £50bn ‘Brexit Bill’ is merely the futile gambit of a deluded elite which is swiftly losing control The notion that Britain faces a £50 billion “Brexit bill” from the EU is a nonsense. While the UK must honour any existing obligations while we remain members of the EU, those obligations end the day we leave. There is no need for the UK to pony up any additional contributions towards a club we are about to leave. Any legacy obligations to be honoured after departure day, such as payments towards Eurocrat pensions, are likely to be small. In general, we should ignore many of these stories about politicians playing hardball over Brexit. It might be fun for pundits to focus on some of the personalities involved in any Brexit negotiations. But if we want to understand the shape of what is to come, it makes much more sense to look at where our interests lie. Do that, and it’s much easier to work out what sort of arrangements we are going to see. – Douglas Carswell MP for the Daily Telegraph (£) George Osborne: I thought it was just about the economy and forgot the people Mr Osborne is remarkably honest and open about his own mistakes in power, which ultimately led to the Brexit result. “When I was chancellor I was very focused on unemployment numbers, GDP numbers, trying to get the British economy turned around,” he says. “I guess I assumed that you’ve got to get the economy going and then people see the benefits and it’s good for people to be in work. I didn’t understand that people want more than just that. They also want to feel that their views are understood, and their voices listened to and that the system is working for them.” – George Osborne interviewed by The Times (£) Brexit comment in brief Labour needs to take back control of the immigration debate – Andy Burnham MP for The Guardian The real explanation for Brexit and Trump – C Chwalisz & J Kanagasooriam for CapX The Risky Business of the Bank of England’s Brexit Warnings – Simon Nixon for the Wall Street Journal The EU does not care about its citizens – John Redwood MP on his eponymous blog Meet the man behind the Brexit legal case which could open the door to a second referendum – An interview with Jolyon Maugham QC by Business Insider Brexit news in brief Government working to avoid labour shortage post-Brexit – Sky News Brexit means 80 per cent of EU defence spending ‘coming from outside the bloc – Daily Express Ten non-EU financial centres authorised to do business in the EU – Reuters Irish CFOs confident of growth despite threat from Brexit – RTE And finally… UK cities vie to be European Capital of Culture 2023 despite Brexit A contest for British cities wishing to become European Capital of Culture 2023 has been launched by the government. Leeds, Dundee and Milton Keynes have all declared their interest in the title, which two European cities share every year. The UK was already lined up to host in 2023 before the country voted to leave the European Union in June. It is not yet known whether the EU will proceed with letting the UK host after Article 50 has been triggered. However, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s announcement suggests it is proceeding under the assumption that a UK city will host the event in 2023. – BBC