There is reportedly broad ministerial agreement to pay a bigger “divorce bill” if Brussels moves Brexit talks onto trade… There is broad agreement among ministers that the government should increase its financial offer to the EU as the UK leaves, the BBC understands. But this is only in return for the EU moving on in December to talks about a future trade deal and an implementation phase after the UK’s departure in 2019. And there was no substantial discussion of possible amounts that could be paid at a cabinet committee meeting. The meeting was held to try to make progress on stalled Brexit talks. The BBC understands there were tensions at the two-hour meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May, over the future role of the European Court of Justice. – BBC News May holds cabinet meeting to discuss higher Brexit bill – ITV News …although there is disquiet in some quarters… A minister also told the Daily Express that Mrs May will face resignations from the Government if she tries to present a deal involving a £36 billion bill with a trade deal the same as the one agreed between the EU and Canada, which Mr Barnier appeared indicate Britain would get… The MP branded the negotiations “stupid” and said British negotiators need to be clear that “any divorce bill is tied to a trade deal” not described as “obligations”. The minister went on: “If all the EU is offering is the same as Canada then it will make no sense to pay anything for that. “Canada didn’t pay anything for its trade deal so why should Britain and that’s before you talk about £20 billion or £36 billion.” – Express …while EU diplomats say €40 billion would not be enough to unlock Brexit talks… EU diplomats gave a cautious welcome Monday to reports that the U.K. is preparing an enhanced financial offer of €40 billion to unlock the Brexit negotiations — but said it would not be enough to move to phase 2 of the talks without a promise to push the offer further. The new figure, which has been widely reported but not officially announced by the U.K. government, would be a significant increase on Theresa May’s financial offer in her Florence speech in September, which amounted to roughly €20 billion. It was discussed Monday at a meeting of May’s “inner” Brexit cabinet. – Politico …and Tory backbenchers encourage Theresa May to exploit Angela Merkel’s woes to avoid a big Brexit bill Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg and former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith have suggested that taking advantage of Mrs Merkel’s uncertain future, could be beneficial for the UK. Mr Rees-Mogg said: “Approving a higher divorce bill at this stage would be foolish. “As for Germany, its domestic political concerns make it less likely that it would want to risk the damage that could be done to its industry from the UK imposing tariffs on its exports.” Mr Duncan Smith echoed the sentiments of the MP for North East Somerset by suggesting that Mrs May should “sit tight” rather than conceding to the European Union. – Express Europe will reject UK trade deal if Britain cuts EU red tape after Brexit, warns Michel Barnier The European Union will reject any future free trade agreement with Britain if it slashes EU regulation and red tape after Brexit, Michel Barnier said today as Peter Mandelson warned against turning the UK into a “satellite of the USA”. The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator said any British efforts to lure investment away from the bloc by undercutting European regulation on tax, environment, food safety and other issues would force it to scupper any trade deal. – Telegraph (£) Labour Backs Tory Rebel’s Brexit Bill Amendment To Protect Human Rights Labour MPs are set to back an EU Withdrawal Bill amendment tabled by a Conservative rebel. Dominic Grieve wants to see a charter of fundamental rights brought into UK law to make sure current human rights are not weakened after Brexit – including those which protect elderly people. The amendment, already signed by 10 backbench Tory MPs, could gather enough support to defeat the government in a vote after Brexit debate resumes in the Commons on Tuesday. Former Attorney General Grieve is one of at least 15 ‘Brexit mutineers’ expected to rebel against the government at critical points as the EU Withdrawl Bill moves through its tumultuous committee stage. – Huffington Post On BrexitCentral: Why the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights must not be transposed into UK law DUP says Northern Ireland will leave EU on same terms as rest of UK The head of the Democratic Unionist Party said on Monday Northern Ireland would leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the United Kingdom, rebuffing a suggestion from the bloc that the region remain subject to some of its rules. Brussels has said it will not move to the second phase of Brexit talks with Britain until London provides additional detail of how it will guarantee that there be no hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. – Reuters Extra customs checks at ports could take place ‘inland’ New customs checkpoints may need to be built “inland” at British ports to handle the increased workload after Brexit, a senior official has said. Karen Wheeler said new infrastructure would be needed to “facilitate” customs controls and it would be up to ports to decide where to locate them. But space was tight at some ports so they might have be inland, she added. Labour’s Meg Hillier said this “revelation” would be alarming news for cash-strapped councils in port towns. Ministers say they do not want to see major changes to the UK’s customs or immigration procedures in the immediate aftermath of the UK’s exit – scheduled for 29 March 2019. – BBC News Labour MPs in disarray over Customs Union membership vote Labour splits over Brexit burst into the open after the party’s frontbench ordered MPs to vote against a bid to keep the UK in the single market and customs union. Former Shadow Cabinet member Ian Murray tabled an amendment to a government bill which would have prevented duties being charged on imports to the UK after the country quits the EU. Remain-backing Labour MPs, as well as some Conservatives, voted for the move in the Commons. However, the amendment was defeated by 311-76 after Labour MPs were whipped to vote with the Government against it. – PoliticsHome Stop Brexit from happening, German business leaders tell the EU A group of German business leaders and politicians has called for the European Union to persuade Britain to reverse Brexit by offering a comprehensive deal on immigration and free movement. Under the slogan “Exit from Brexit: a new deal for Britain and the EU”, the group of seven influential figures warned that Germany must do more to prevent losing “its most valuable partner within the EU”. “Basically, we want the EU to offer the deal David Cameron was looking for before the referendum,” Hans-Olaf Henkel, a senior German MEP and one of the leaders of the initiative said. – Telegraph Brussels reduced to coin-toss decision over where London’s EU agencies will go after Brexit The European Union was reduced to drawing lots to decide which cities would host London’s EU agencies after Brexit as the scramble for the first spoils of the UK-EU split descended into farce. European affairs ministers from the remaining 27 member states voted in secret in Brussels to decide which cities would scoop the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority, both of which are currently based in Canary Wharf. – Telegraph (£) British businesses anticipate increased global trading as US tops the hitlist British businesses are expected to target the US as a new trading partner, as many anticipate a higher number of opportunities to do business abroad over the coming year. According to economic modelling carried out by American Express, the US tops the list of untapped trading partners for the UK. This comes as 39 per cent of UK businesses which currently trade internationally said they planned to increase operations over the next 12 months. Half of those surveyed also said they are looking to trade with new countries in the coming year. Some 44 per cent of companies also believe they are in line for increased revenue as a result of better opportunities overseas. – City A.M. The Sun says: EU want to have their cake and eat it – so we must prepare for ‘no deal’ exit Now who wants to have their cake and eat it? Listen to what EU negotiator Michel Barnier said yesterday. He wants all his demands met on citizens’ rights. He wants the Irish border question solved. He wants a monstrous exit bung from Britain — and, rest assured, even £40billion won’t nearly suffice. And for what? A trade deal which would STILL shackle us forever to Brussels’ rules. Which would be torpedoed if we made any attempt to slash red tape or undercut them on tax. It is vital we resist. Britain MUST have this freedom, to make our own trade deals worldwide. – The Sun says Mark Wallace: The EU’s obsession with our divorce bill shows we are right to leave Money makes the world go round, as the song goes – and the maxim applies as strongly in Brussels as anywhere else. For all the high-flown talk of the values and destiny of the European Project, the EU has placed cold, hard cash at the centre of its negotiating strategy. The EU is currently refusing to advance the talks into the question of future trade until Theresa May offers a sufficiently large sum to secure a verdict that “sufficient progress” has been made in the first phase of negotiations. – iNews Owen Paterson: Don’t listen to the terrified Europeans. The Singapore model is our Brexit opportunity Our cautious Chancellor, now busily preparing for his Budget, said one thing this year that lifted my spirits: he warned the EU against bullying Britain as it headed for the exits. “If we are forced to be something different, then we will have to become something different… We will have to change our model to regain competitiveness.” Well the bullying has not stopped – not least with the outrageous demand that we cough up around £50 billion or again be denied the opportunity to agree a free trade deal with our continental neighbours. Yesterday, Michel Barnier even threatened Britain against diverging from Europe on tax and regulation, surely essential levers for any independent country. – Owen Paterson MP for the Telegraph (£) Norman Tebbit: The idea that Brexit will cause unemployment is being exposed as a fiction There is not a lot more to say about the current state of play in what are euphemistically called the negotiations on the arrangements for the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU. It was aptly covered by last Saturday’s Daily Telegraph leader column and Charles Moore’s column that day. However, earlier last week memories of that dodgy dossier, circulated before the independence referendum to every household in the land by Mr Cameron’s government, had come flooding back to me. It was blood-curdling stuff; “A direct consequence of a vote to leave the EU would be significant job losses across the UK,” it said. “Within two years at least half a million jobs would be lost.” – Lord Tebbit for the Telegraph (£) Julian Jessop: Is the EU’s goodwill really worth £40bn? Even if £40bn were enough for the EU, many would ask why the UK should stump up anything at all. This is a political judgement that can perhaps only be made by the people in the room. In favour, £40bn (or more) might be a small price to pay in return for a ‘good deal’ with economic benefits potentially lasting many decades. Looked at this way, £40bn could be thought of a one-off payment equivalent to only a few billion each year (and much better value than HS2!). What’s more, since the ‘divorce bill’ is money that the UK would have to pay anyway if it had remained a member, it would be wrong to regard it as an additional cost of Brexit. – Julian Jessop for the IEA James Forsyth: What fresh German elections would mean for Brexit and Europe Angela Merkel’s declaration that new elections would be better than a minority government suggests Germany will be heading back to the polls soon. Though, it should be noted that the decision on whether to call fresh election is technically the German president’s, not Merkel’s. The so-called Jamaica coalition, bringing together Merkel’s CDU, the CSU, the Greens and the economically liberal Free Democrats, can’t be made to work as the collapse of the talks last night showed. The other alternative that would produce a majority government, another grand coalition between the CDU and the SPD, remains highly unlikely. The current consensus in the SPD is that the party needs a spell in opposition to recover; in September, it garnered only 20.5% of the vote—a post war low. – James Forsyth for the Spectator Bim Afolami: Brexit can be a catalyst for signalling that Britain is open for business Hundreds of people have turned down jobs in the UK tech sector since the Brexit vote, it emerged last week, with one in three tech entrepreneurs losing a potential employee owing to immigration uncertainty. This is alarming. We have the leading tech industry in Europe. In 2016 the UK secured £6.8 billion in digital tech investment: that’s over 50 per cent more than any other European country. Over the past five years London has attracted more investment than Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam combined. We need to keep it that way. – Bim Afolami MP for The Times (£) Andrew Green: No, EFTA membership would not give us adequate control of immigration. There is a better way In his article for Conservative Home a week ago today, James Cartlidge held out the prospect of a “miracle cure” for the related problems of trade and immigration post-Brexit. This amounts to swallowing a pill called “EFTA” – and all would be well. At one stroke, we would be out of the CAP, CFP and direct ECJ jurisdiction, as well as being able to negotiate our own trade deals, while having the power to tackle high levels of immigration by means of an emergency brake on the lines available to EEA states. Would that life were that simple. Sadly, an ‘emergency brake’ along such lines would not be effective, practical or desirable. – Lord Green of Deddington for ConservativeHome Brexit in brief Remainers and Leavers must finally call a truce to move forward with Brexit together – Janice Turner for the Sun The stakes could not be higher for Hammond’s budget – Brian Monteith for The Scotsman Why the EU owes the UK money – Anthony Scholefield for Futurus Why yes, again, Brexit and the terrors of import tariffs – ASI Hammond should read up on reasons to scrap the EU’s tax on ebooks – The Times (£) Official figures for the UK contributions to the EU – John Redwood MP for John Redwood’s Diary And finally… Stanley Johnson becomes a favourite with I’m A Celeb viewers with ‘breakfast not Brexit’ chat Stanley Johnson is fast becoming a favourite with I’m A Celebrity viewers – even more so after he shunned talk of Brexit in favour of breakfast. The 77-year-old former MEP made the quip during a chat with campmate Georgia Toffolo on Monday night’s show – where he also gave his seal of approval to the work his son Boris is doing. While he said that the Foreign Secretary was doing ‘a totally brilliant job’ it was clear he had more important things on his mind at that point. ‘We have to think about breakfast,’ Stanley admitted – which led to suggestions of ‘breakfast not Brexit’ from the others. However he remained pragmatic as he said: ‘My thought is that the people in Britain must be so sick of the Brexit debate that their spirits will sink if they think, well, even people in the jungle are talking about it.’ – Metro