British and EU negotiators to conclude first full round of talks today… Brexit negotiators are to outline what progress has been made so far as the latest round of talks come to an end. The UK’s Brexit Secretary David Davis and the EU’s Michel Barnier will meet to assess the past four days of talks. Groups of British and EU officials have been discussing citizens’ rights, the Irish border and separation issues, including UK financial liabilities… So far at the least the Brexit negotiations appear to have been surprisingly leak-proof considering the sheer scale of the operation. A degree of exasperation appears to linger on the British side at the idea that its officials are less well-prepared than their EU counterparts – the UK believes its negotiators are just less inclined to work off detailed, published position papers. There have been hints of progress in talks on citizens rights accompanied by stronger hints that there’s still a long way to go – the EU insistence on a future oversight role for the European Court of Justice remains a stumbling block. – BBC News …with British negotiators reportedly “confident” they have the EU “right where they want it” The U.K.’s performance in the first substantive round of Brexit negotiations this week got panned in Brussels and back home in London. But British negotiators insist they have the EU right where they want it — and are confident in their approach, the criticism notwithstanding… “There is the feeling that the EU is getting their excuses in early for when negotiations get difficult: ‘The Brits were unprepared’,” said one individual familiar with senior level thinking on the U.K. team. “Is that narrative frustrating? Yes, but most people on the British side are big enough and ugly enough to know this is the kind of thing that happens in a negotiation.” Far from rethinking their approach, the British team heads into the final day of this week’s talks sounding sanguine. – Politico Brexit talks: progress on rights but divorce bill still a sticking point – Peter Foster for the Telegraph Brexit rivals at impasse after three days of talks – The Times (£) Brexit talks get down to the nitty-gritty of citizens’ rights – Marley Morris for The Times (£) France’s economy minister tells Britain: ‘We want our money back’… French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday that Britain must pay what it owes to the European Union and it is a non-negotiable prerequisite for Brexit talks. “I will say what Margaret Thatcher used to say: We want our money back,” Le Maire said, answering questions from lawmakers in the economic affairs committee of the French parliament. “We can always debate on the amount but on the fact that the United Kingdom must pay what it owes to the budget of the European Union, it is a non-negotiable prerequisite at the start of the (Brexit) discussions,” Le Maire said. – Reuters EU milks UK taxpayers with £11bn pre-Brexit splurge including new Paris Metro line – Express A British Government always pays its dues – the problem is we owe the EU approximately nothing – Andrew Lilico for Reaction …as former Brexit minister David Jones warns that stalling Brexit talks would be ‘very dangerous’ for EU It would be “very dangerous” for the EU to stall Brexit talks over the U.K.’s divorce bill because time is tight and a no-deal scenario would mean Britain leaving without paying anything, blowing a huge hole in the bloc’s budget, according to a former U.K. Brexit minister. David Jones, who served as Brexit Secretary David Davis’ deputy in the Department for Exiting the European Union until last month, told POLITICO that the time pressure on securing a deal was “more on them than it is upon us.” – Politico Liam Fox to address World Trade Organisation today in Geneva… International Trade Secretary Liam Fox will tell officials at the World Trade Organisation on Thursday that Brexit is an opportunity for the UK to “set its sights wider and embrace the realities of globalisation”… Liam Fox will praise the WTO’s role in liberalising global trade and tackling protectionism but it is also clear that contingency planning will be on his mind. Liam Fox believes it is in the interests of both the EU and UK to reach a post-Brexit trade deal but significantly he will point out that Free Trade Agreements are not the only way to promote commerce between nations and he will set out a range of other options. So if Britain were to leave the EU without a deal, he believes that as an independent member of the WTO, the UK could push for further liberalisation of trade in services and technology. – BBC News …before travelling to Washington next week to begin scoping a post-Brexit US-UK trade deal U.S. and British officials will meet in Washington on Monday for the first meeting of a new trade and investment working group to explore a possible free trade agreement between the countries after Brexit, a U.S. official said on Wednesday… The official from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, who requested anonymity, said the meeting would be held on Monday and Tuesday and include Britain’s international trade secretary, Liam Fox, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer… The sides want to ensure there is no disruption to flights between the United States and Britain after Brexit, that commercial data flows are protected and that trade in nuclear materials and technology continues. – Reuters Act now to stop companies moving jobs for Brexit, Institute of Directors urges Government Businesses have started to trigger their Brexit contingency plans even before knowing the details of the UK’s departure from the EU, or even the type of transition period which may be agreed upon. Most businesses have held off so far, but 11pc are acting already, according to a survey from the Institute of Directors (IoD)… The IoD has urged the Government to give businesses more information so that they can adjust their plans with a better idea of the end result of the negotiations. “Uncertainty over the UK’s future trading status with the EU continues to rank among companies’ top concerns. While businesses are preparing for Brexit, most have not made any concrete changes yet, so there is still a window of opportunity for the Government to convince them to hold off triggering contingency plans,” said the IoD’s director general Stephen Martin. – Telegraph May pressed to give Brexit clarity at business summit – Sky News Michael Gove reportedly refused to back UK position paper on continuing role of ECJ According to two separate sources, environment secretary Michael Gove would not back the paper on the future of cases pending at the European Court of Justice when Brexit happens in March 2019. The position paper on the future role of the ECJ was one of a batch of three that the UK government published on July 13 in preparation for this week’s Brexit negotiations. The paper makes it clear that some UK cases would be under way before the ECJ at the time of Brexit and that it would be necessary for some to continue to work their way through the court. – FT (£) Scots “could have different Brexit deal” according to Lords report There is a “strong case” for Scotland having different Brexit arrangements from the rest of the UK in some areas, peers have said. The Lords EU committee said the move could be necessary if a UK-wide deal does not reflect Scotland’s needs. It said this could include Scotland setting its own EU immigration goals after Brexit. But the committee did not think Scotland could stay in the single market if the rest of the UK leaves… While they made clear they did not want new areas of powers to be devolved, the committee’s report said the “specific labour market and demographic needs of the devolved nations should be accommodated in the context of Brexit”. – BBC News Government warned over Brexit and Wales by peers – BBC News Scotland and Wales warned to stop putting themselves first and work for best Brexit for UK – Express SNP will put Britain back in disastrous EU fishing policy, blasts David Mundell – Express Scotland and Wales begin formal dispute with UK Government over £1bn DUP deal – Telegraph UK threatens to return radioactive waste to EU without nuclear deal Britain has warned the EU that it could return boatloads of radioactive waste back to the continent if the Brexit talks fail to deliver an agreement on nuclear regulation… Britain currently has a 126-tonne stockpile of radioactive materials originating from EU countries such as Germany, Italy and Sweden… Nuclear experts who have advised the British government told the Financial Times that the Department for Exiting the European Union’s none-too-coded warning over the future ownership of radioactive waste might just encourage a more flexible approach from the Europeans over the issue. “It might just be a reminder that a boatload of plutonium could end up at a harbour in Antwerp unless an arrangement is made,” one nuclear expert told the FT. – Guardian Northern Trust won’t cut jobs in London despite EU base move Northern Trust will not cut jobs in London after today revealing plans to set up its new EU base in Luxembourg. The Chicago-headquartered provider of banking and asset management services employs 1,500 people in the capital. Many insurers, asset managers and banks have already revealed the location of new EU headquarters in preparation for Britain’s exit from the EU… A spokesperson for Northern Trust told City A.M. the firm has plans for a “significant presence” in Luxembourg and there would be “no redundancies” as a result of the move. – City A.M. First crisis for French president Macron as army chief General Pierre de Villiers quits over cuts President Macron faced the most serious test yet of his fledgling administration yesterday after the chief of the armed forces resigned following a dressing-down over defence cuts. General Pierre de Villiers is the first top French military officer to quit in decades. He walked out saying that he could no longer guarantee France’s security with the funds available for national defence. His departure shattered Mr Macron’s attempts to win the trust of the armed services and prompted accusations of arrogance in the Élysée palace. – The Times (£) Britain is the biggest winner from Emmanuel Macron’s war against France’s armed forces – RT Howard for the Telegraph (£) Thunderstorms are all France’s fault, says Met Office – The Times (£) Douglas Carswell: What are the essential ingredients for Brexit? It would be impossible to claim to have left the European Union and still remain a member of either the Single Market or Customs Union. As long as you are in either, you cannot pursue your own independent trade policy. Indeed, if we remained a member of the Single Market, vast swathes of economic life – and much else – in our country would continue to be subject to rules made in Brussels. Leave the Single Market and you only need to comply with Single Market rules if selling into the Single Market. – Douglas Carswell for CapX Charlie Cooper: Everybody loses if there’s no Brexit deal Leaving without a deal could enable the U.K. to legally exit without paying a penny. Yes, this could prompt a legal challenge by the EU, but the immediate upshot would be that a country which contributes around 12.5 percent of the EU budget had left the table without settling what it owes for various EU spending projects up to 2020 — a big, big problem. Think of the infrastructure programs in Eastern Europe that will need new pots of money; think of the fury in the capitals of net contributors to the EU budget, like Sweden or Austria, when Brussels comes begging for cash to cover the Brexit deficit… What is worrisome for anyone hoping for as mutually beneficial a deal as possible, is that both sides seem well aware that no deal is bad for the other. But both sides are willing to use the other’s fear of no deal to push hard on their demands. – Charlie Cooper for Politico James Arnell: In Europe, negotiation is a turbulent sport – we only need to worry if the Brexit talks go smoothly In the UK, parties generally start from a position which is more or less reasonable on each side and move together to a deal relatively quickly, seeking to avoid unnecessary escalation up the chain of command… Across the Channel, it Is a very different ball game. Negotiations generally start with almost ridiculously extreme positions on each side (an example: a demand for a €100 billion Brexit bill)… Negotiators like to present an impasse to their bosses, in the expectation that, having established at tedious length the main issues in the negotiation and having created an impasse, the negotiation will move up a level in the hierarchy, another impasse will be reached, and so on up it goes. It is not at all unusual for these steps up through the hierarchy to be accompanied by walkouts, requiring bosses to get things “back on track”. Ultimately, this continental form of negotiation culminates in a relatively rapid final phase of negotiations between the “head honchos”, in which, after months or years of painful posturing on both sides, points are traded embarrassingly quickly and a deal is sealed. – James Arnell for ConservativeHome Express: Brexit ‘punishment’ is not the will of the European people EU negotiators Michel Barnier and Guy Verhofstadt are out to “punish” Britain, says German MEP Hans-Olaf Henkel. This stinging rebuke highlights a key divide in Europe between unelected bureaucrats who are loyal only to the EU institutions and elected politicians who answer to voters. As a Member of the European Parliament Mr Henkel owes his living to German voters. He knows that the ordinary people of Germany – the same is also true in other countries – just want to see free trade continue. They have no interest in a punishment deal that would hurt both Britain and the EU. By contrast the likes of Barnier, Verhofstadt and Jean-Claude Juncker seem to regard the wishes of the European people as being irrelevant. These unelected Eurocrats care far more about preserving the standing of the EU even if it means starting a trade war in which both sides lose out. – Express editorial Mark Wallace: Leaving the EU offers an opportunity to reduce energy bills Brexit opens some new doors. After leaving the EU, we would regain the freedom to choose the level of VAT paid on household energy bills. Currently the rate stands at the minimum allowed, five per cent, and has done since Labour reduced it to that level in 1997. During last year’s referendum campaign, Vote Leave calculated that removing this five per cent tax entirely from domestic energy bills would save consumers £1.7 billion – a calculation founded in ONS and Treasury figures, and notably not disputed by the pro-EU campaign at the time. That could be an instant and tangible benefit of Brexit. – Mark Wallace for ConservativeHome Brexit comment in brief Why haven’t more UK businesses been able or willing to build long term businesses in France or Germany? – John Redwood’s Diary Olly Robbins: the man spearheading the UK’s Brexit talks – Alex Barker and James Blitz for the FT (£) Brexit is Britain’s chance to be a hospitable host to refugees again – Robert Tombs for the Telegraph (£) Don’t write off Theresa May. Like Margaret Thatcher, she can bounce back – Simon Jenkins for the Guardian Labour MP Caroline Flint is a hero of the Brexit revolution – Niall McCrae for ConservativeWoman Doctor, doctor, I’m upset about Brexit – Fraser Myers for spiked Country cannot afford a summer of Brexit discontent – Christine Jardine MP for The Times (£) Brexit news in brief Vince Cable set to become Lib Dem leader – BBC News Pro-EU MPs should support Philip Hammond, says Vince Cable – FT (£) Female Labour MPs question gender balance on Brexit negotiation team – Politico Labour shadow minister Sarah Champion “nervous” answering questions on Labour’s single market and customs union position – Express No-deal Brexit would spawn ‘legal morass and economic disaster’, report claims – Guardian New report paints bleak picture of consequences of no-deal Brexit – Express Tajani tells Juncker don’t call me for six weeks as MEPs check out of EU for holiday break – Express And finally… EU employing counter-espionage tools at Brexit talks amid fears of British spying The European Commission has installed Mission Impossible style fingerprint scanners to boost security protecting its Brexit team, amid fears that Britain’s high-powered spy agencies might be eavesdropping on preparations for tense EU-UK negotiations… “Everyone is paranoid that the British are spying on us, although no-one knows what to do about it if they are – but everyone is aware of the risks,” a Brussels-based source told The Telegraph… Fears of spying are not confined to the EU side. Brexit Secretary David Davis carries his Brexit documents in a briefcase fitted with a Faraday cage, which protects it from spies… The head of Belgium’s secret service said in 2014 the capital had more spy activity than almost any other city in the world with hundreds of active agents. – Telegraph (£)