May survives Cabinet clash without ministers quitting after she pleads for them to ‘stand together’ behind her Brexit plan… Theresa May appears to have escaped a Cabinet showdown without resignations after she pleaded for ministers to back her Brexit plan.The Prime Minister urged her senior team to ‘stand together’ as she braced for a frantic 48 hours battling to get negotiations with the EU back on track. After dramatically pulling the plug on a fledgling divorce agreement on Sunday, Mrs May has been ringing round fellow leaders to appeal for a shift in their position. Tomorrow night she will make a make-or-break pitch to EU counterparts at a summit in Brussels – with council president Donald Tusk warning that a chaotic no-deal Brexit is now ‘more likely than ever before’. German minister Michael Roth said that Mrs May needed to ‘take responsibility’ for securing a breakthrough. – Daily Mail …as Donald Tusk says he wants new ideas from her at today’s European Council to break the Brexit impasse European Council President Donald Tusk said on Tuesday he will ask British Prime Minister Theresa May this week if she has new ideas on how to break the impasse in Brexit talks, adding that he has become less optimistic about an immediate breakthrough.Tusk told reporters his hopes for their meeting on Wednesday had been dampened by European Union Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, as well as events in the British parliament.“Unfortunately the report on the state of the negotiations that I got from Michel Barnier today, as well as yesterday’s debate in the House of Commons, give me no grounds for optimism before tomorrow’s European Council on Brexit,” said Tusk, who will chair the EU summit in Brussels. A breakthrough required more than just goodwill. “Tomorrow, I’m going to ask Prime Minister May whether she has concrete proposals on how to break the impasse. Only such proposals can determine if a breakthrough is possible,” he said. – Reuters ‘Expectations low’ as PM heads to Brussels – BBC News Michel Barnier reportedly moots extending the Brexit transition period by a year… Michel Barnier has reportedly said he is open to extending the Brexit transition period by a year. The European Union’s Brexit negotiator could offer the extension in return for Theresa May accepting a “two-tier” backstop to avoid a border with Northern Ireland, EU diplomats told the Financial Times.The plan was informally proposed to the UK during talks last week, the newspaper said.It would allow Britain to remain in the customs union and single market beyond the scheduled end of the 21-month transition period in December 2020. Freedom of movement would also be extended until the end of 2021.Mr Barnier is said to have outlined the proposal during a meeting of ministers from EU member states in Luxembourg on the eve of Wednesday’s Brexit summit. “The extension is an example of how we could be flexible to help the British side if they want it,” one diplomat told the Financial Times. – Independent …while it is suggested Liam Fox has said the UK needs longer to strike a free-trade deal with the EU… British trade minister Liam Fox said the UK will need a longer transition period to make a free-trade deal with the European Union, The Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.Fox suggested that Britain may stay in transition for a “few more months” beyond the end of December 2020, the newspaper reported, citing a source. Prime Minister Theresa May is being urged to consider the extension of the transition period to get through the Brexit impasse, the newspaper report added.Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. Under May’s plan, the whole of the UK would forge a customs “partnership” with the EU after a transition period ends in December 2020 if the backstop is triggered. – Reuters …and the Irish foreign minister rejects ‘dangerous’ proposal on deferring Irish backstop plan Ireland’s foreign minister has rejected any suggestion considerations were being given to deferring the Irish backstop issue.He was responding to the Republic’s Labour Leader Brendan Howlin who described as “very dangerous” suggestions from Europe that the Irish backstop issue should be postponed or deferred.”It is something that we have to resist. But it was predictable,” he said…Coveney questioned the source of Mr Howlin’s claims.He said: “There is no sense from any conversations I’ve had with EU foreign ministers, that anybody is questioning or undermining the EU position on the Irish backstop, quite the opposite in fact.” “I’m not sure what sources Brendan Howlin is getting his information from, but I suspect they are not as credible as the assurances we’re getting from the chief negotiator today.” – Belfast Telegraph Britain will face a £36 billion Brexit bill even if it fails to agree a trade deal with EU, warns Chancellor Britain will still have to pay the EU up to £36 billion if it fails to agree a trade deal, Philip Hammond has claimed, as Brussels said no deal is now “more likely than ever”. The Chancellor told Cabinet ministers the UK would be unlikely to win any legal battle to withhold large chunks of the Brexit bill, despite previous Government promises that the payment was conditional on a deal. Mr Hammond’s comments angered Eurosceptics, who described his stance as “mystifying”. However, sources close to the Chancellor insisted he was as frustrated as his colleagues with the EU’s intransigence, and was merely setting out legal advice the Treasury had been given.- Telegraph (£) Sir John Major says Brexiteers “will not be forgotten nor forgiven” Sir John Major has launched his most savage attack yet on Boris Johnson and Tory Brexiteers, claiming they will never be forgiven for their false promises. In a lecture at the Foreign Office in London, the former prime minister said the 2016 referendum vote was a “colossal misjudgement” that would leave the country poorer and weaker.Speaking on the eve of a Brussels summit, at which Theresa May is battling to avoid a “no-deal” Brexit, Sir John said once people understood they had been deceived, those responsible would have “much to answer for”.- Sky News Donald Trump looks to start formal US-UK trade talks The Trump administration has told Congress that it wants to start formal trade talks with the UK “as soon as it is ready” after Brexit, a sign that negotiations with London are a priority even as Washington seeks separate deals with the EU and Japan and fights a trade war with China. The notification from Robert Lighthizer, US trade representative, to Orrin Hatch, the chairman of the Senate finance committee, came in a letter sent on Tuesday, as the UK was engaged in a tense, last-ditch round of negotiations with Brussels over the terms of Brexit.It was sent alongside similar notifications from Mr Lighthizer that the US also intends to launch formal trade talks with Japan and the EU, following agreements reached by Donald Trump with Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, in recent months. – FT (£) UK wage growth fastest for nearly 10 years and unemployment falls again (despite Brexit) Wages excluding bonuses have risen at their fastest pace in nearly 10 years, official figures show. Pay rose by 3.1% in the three months to August, compared with a year ago, while inflation for the same period was 2.5%. Last week, Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane said he saw signs of a “new dawn” for wage growth.The latest official data also showed unemployment fell by 47,000 to 1.36 million in the three months to August. The jobless rate remained at 4%.- BBC News Ex-MI6 chief attacks Theresa May’s top Brexit negotiator Theresa May’s leading Brexit advisor is “hoodwinking” the public and needs to answer “serious questions of improper conduct” according to ex-MI6 boss Sir Richard Dearlove. Sir Richard accused Olly Robbins, the Prime Minister’s Europe advisor since September 2017, of “covertly working” to keep bits of UK defence policy “under EU control”. The astonishing allegations were made by Sir Richard via a letter to The Times. In the letter, Sir Richard accused Mr Robbins of “covertly working to lock UK defence and security under EU control after Brexit”.He added this would “risk fatally compromise our “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance.He said: “It is by far the worst aspect of the Chequers deal and hitherto has not been made clear to the public.” – Express Olly Robbins and improper conduct – The Times (£) Jeremy Hunt tells Boris Johnson to back Theresa May or face ‘real danger’ of the Brexit he campaigned for being ‘derailed altogether’ Jeremy Hunt last night warned Boris Johnson and Cabinet Brexiteers they must back Theresa May ‘to the hilt’, as ministers were told of a potential £30billion ‘no deal’ divorce bill. In an outspoken intervention, the Foreign Secretary pointed the finger specifically at his predecessor whose posturing he said had created ‘a real danger’ that Brexit will be ‘derailed altogether’. As the Prime Minister flies to Brussels for a crunch summit today, Mr Hunt said now was the time to unite behind the Prime Minister, adding: ‘We owe it to her to be rock solid in our support as she battles for Britain’.And in a message to EU leaders, Mr Hunt urged them not to repeat the ‘mistake’ they made with David Cameron during his attempted re-negotiation of Britain’s EU member when they failed to give enough ground and the country voted to leave. – Daily Mail DEFRA ramps up no-deal Brexit planning Defra has been quietly ramping up its no-deal Brexit planning over the past six weeks, according to its top civil servant.Clare Moriarty, the department’s permanent secretary, made the remarks when giving evidence to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Defra’s Brexit preparedness. MPs on the committee chose to examine the preparations in the wake of a National Audit Office (NAO) report which found the risk of Defra failing to deliver all of its Brexit tasks in the event of a no-deal scenario was ‘high’.Ms Moriarty said: “We have been fast-tracking our contingency planning for the last five or six weeks.“Over the summer, as it emerged that clarity [on the UK’s future relationship with the EU] might well not be as early as October, we realised some of our plans just could not wait. – Farmers Guardian Wetherspoon launches poster campaign in its pubs calling on the Prime Minister to get rid of tariffs post-Brexit Pub operator JD Wetherspoon has launched a poster campaign in its pubs (Monday October 15) calling on the Prime Minister to get rid of tariffs post-Brexit. The poster is headlined ‘What don’t you like about free trade, Mrs May?’ and states that free trade means getting rid of tariffs. It is being displayed in 880 Wetherspoon pubs across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin said: ” There will be a huge gain for business and consumers if the UK copies the free trade approach of countries like Singapore, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Israel, by slashing protectionist EU import taxes (‘tariffs’) on leaving the EU in March next year.“It is not often that the government can enrich the electorate without losing tax income, however, this is a rare example.- CLH /*COMMENT*/ Bernard Ingham: My advice to Theresa May ahead of EU summit on Brexit. Show ‘em your nasty side, Prime Minister Never forget that, in her relentless battle to reduce Britain’s excessive contribution to the then EC budget, Margaret Thatcher got only two-thirds of a loaf. In spite of her efforts. the EU remains a protectionist club. They took not a blind bit of notice when she warned against the very movement that has brought Brexit – sinking member-nations in a European super-state. And Mrs Thatcher never set out to be nice but to be effective.Now the decent vicar’s daughter, Mrs May, is in a terrible fix. She has no natural majority in the Commons. Her party is not merely split, but her Government rebellious to the point of resignation over Brexit. She has a Civil Service that seems to be Europhile in spite of the referendum.The Opposition’s policy is without principle. Whatever the PM comes away with Labour will vote against it, with the enthusiastic support of the hypocritical SNP…Be strong. Britain – and your tenure – depend on it. Serve the people. They have spoken and said “Out”. – Sir Bernard Ingham for the Yorkshire Post Telegraph: Theresa May may return empty-handed from her ‘make-or-break’ Brexit summit While the EU side wants the saga to end now with an agreement that was apparently on the table at the weekend only to founder, it is looking likely that yet another summit will be necessary, or the talks might even collapse entirely. Were that to happen it must be on Mrs May’s terms, not the EU’s. Neither her reputation nor national pride can endure another humiliation like that meted out in Salzburg earlier this month. If she returns without an agreement but having stood up to the EU she may yet live to fight another day. But anything that smacks of defeatism must be avoided and if Mrs May has to walk away so be it. She cannot compromise on the issue of Northern Ireland’s equal treatment as an integral part of the UK and nor should she be asked to. – Editorial from the Telegraph (£) Blair, Clegg and Heseltine: We need another EU-Referendum It would be an understatement to say that the negotiations to take Britain out of the European Union have not gone well.For all the promises made during the referendum, the advocates of leaving the EU both underestimated the fundamental importance of Britain’s integration into the European-wide economy and failed to explain the sacrifices that Brexit inevitably involves…Ultimately, though, whether we are willing to pay the economic price to leave the EU is a matter the United Kingdom. Our domestic debate is far from over and, even at this late hour, many of us are continuing to make the case that the British public need to make the final decision once we are in possession of all the relevant facts. So we ask our European partners to be ready to give us the space and time, if necessary, to make such a final decision. Until then, we of course respect their right to act on, and prepare for, the decision of the UK to leave until or unless that changes. – Tony Blair, Michael Heseltine and Nick Clegg for Die Welt Daniel Finkelstein: Even now, May holds five key Brexit cards ‘I will never sit down with Gerry Adams,” said the founder of the Democratic Unionist Party in 1997. Then, in 2007, Ian Paisley did. Which produced another problem. Where should the two men sit? Tony Blair’s negotiator, Jonathan Powell, relates that a crucial meeting, which ten years of talks had been building up to, was nearly scuppered by a dispute over where the two men should sit — opposite each other (Paisley’s demand, to show they were still rivals), or next to each other (Adams’s demand, to show that they were equals).Finally an official had a brilliant idea: a diamond-shaped table. The two men could sit at the apex, both next to each other and opposite each other at the same time. The meeting went ahead.Deepak Malhotra includes the story in his book Negotiating the Impossible, in which he examines how to break deadlocks without money or muscle. It is comforting right now to read dozens of examples of how seemingly impossible disputes were resolved…In other words, however bleak the position looks, however stuck we are, it isn’t entirely over. There is room for movement, new ideas and fresh understanding. It may still be worth trying to build a diamond table. – Lord Finkelstein for the Times (£) Philip Johnston: It’s ‘deal or disaster’ time for Mrs May, but purist Brexiteers won’t get what they want either way In any case, even if Mrs May does get a deal, she still has the small matter of getting it through parliament. While the Westminster dynamics will change once there is something specific to vote on, the chances are it will be defeated. What then? Parliament would engineer a way to avoid the UK crashing out with no deal either by insisting that the Government seeks an extension of Article 50 or somehow forcing it from office. But there is another way, as some of us who were in favour of Brexit have argued ever since the referendum, and that is for the UK to stay in the European Economic Area (EEA) and rejoin the European Free Trade Association (Efta) – the so-called Norway option.The EEA is an economic, not a political, arrangement. It does not cover the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Fisheries Policy, the Customs Union or Common Trade Policy. It would enable the UK to continue trading goods and services freely. But we would not be in the EU, thereby fulfilling the mandate of the referendum.It may be too late now, but it was interesting that William Hague, who retains good connections with senior ministers, proposed just such a fall-back in the Telegraph this week Maybe that is where we are headed in the event of a parliamentary impasse. It is a sensible and temporary expedient that should have been adopted long ago. Brexit purists who oppose it need to ditch the theological search for what they imagine to be perfection and focus on what is possible. – Philip Johnston for the Telegraph (£) Daniel Hannan: The proposed Brexit terms represent a deal worse than either staying or leaving. How can anyone, Remain or Leave, countenance such a deal? It must surely be clear that it would represent, from the EU’s point of view, the ideal outcome, better even than a humiliated Britain begging for readmission without its rebate. Why on earth would Brussels want to replace it with a different arrangement? It wouldn’t matter whether the backstop came with a break clause or a time limit. The EU would simply never agree to put a permanent deal in the place of one so favourable, so we’d be back where we are today.Better, surely, to take the initiative now. The proposed exit terms represent a deal worse than either staying or leaving. We need to drop our sunk costs stubbornness and try something different. I argued on this site, before during and after the referendum, for a Swiss-type deal based on EFTA. But, frankly, any outcome – no deal, Norway, Canada, even the risk of a second referendum – would be better than what is currently on the table. This is our last chance to pull out of the nosedive. – Daniel Hannan MEP for Conservative Home Nick Boles: ‘My workable plan B that will break the Brexit deadlock’ During the course of the summer, it became clear to me that the so-called Irish backstop promised national humiliation and would never get through Parliament. But you can’t beat a plan with no plan. So I set myself the challenge of devising a workable Plan B, one that would deliver our exit from the European Union next March in accordance with the people’s vote in the 2016 referendum, protect people’s jobs and incomes by securing the benefits of continuing tariff-free access to the Single Market, and – crucially – command the support of a majority of MPs.Very simply, it involves the UK leaving the EU on March 29, 2019, and, for an interim phase only, moving to a position like Norway’s in what is called the European Economic Area (EEA). That’s the Common Market that integrates the economies of countries in the EU with those of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. – Nick Boles MP for the Daily Mail News in Brief British prime minister needs things to get worse before they can get better. – Paul Taylor for Politico Revealed: the truth about the People’s Vote’s Leave voter – Spectator Mundell ‘did not threaten Brexit resignation’ – BBC News President Macron offers glimmer of hope over the Irish border – The Times (£) Michael Moore says ‘dumbed-down Britain’ is making Trump-scale mistake with Brexit – Mirror