Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Ministerial approval for Brexit negotiating position raises the prospect of an imminent summit breakthrough… The full Cabinet on Tuesday approved the UK’s negotiating position for the first phase of Brexit negotiations – which the Prime Minister hopes will lead to agreement from the rest of the EU in just over a fortnight for talks to move on to trade and transition. The three elements to the UK’s offer are: a pledge to keep open the border with the Republic of Ireland; a formula for the so-called divorce bill that would see the UK paying more than £40bn and less than £60bn in divorce payments; a system for guaranteeing the rights of three million EU migrants resident in the UK that would allow Britain’s Supreme Court to refer issues “up” to the European Court of Justice, when it felt unqualified to adjudicate – ITV News …as it is reported the Government would settle a Brexit bill of between €45 billion and €55 billion… Two sources confirmed that the terms were agreed at a meeting in Brussels late last week after intense back-channel discussions led by Oliver Robbins, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator. The Telegraph understands that the final figure, which is deliberately being left open to interpretation, will be between €45bn and €55bn, depending on how each side calculates the output from an agreed methodology. It means the final amount will be far higher than the opening €20bn offer to win “sufficient progress” made by Mrs May in her Florence speech. The gross UK settlement, before deductions, is understood to be €100bn. – Telegraph (£) …but Downing Street denies that the figure is settled According to the Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times, agreement has now been reached between the two sets of negotiators on how the bill could be calculated. Downing Street has played this down, with a source saying: “Negotiations are ongoing. There is, as yet, no settlement.” A spokesman for the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier declined to comment. The BBC understands detailed conversations are still taking place on which specific components will be included in the final bill and how those components are calculated. – BBC News Britain agrees to total liabilities worth €100bn but will aim to pay less than half – FT (£) Brexit means… a £40bn divorce bill – Katy Balls for the Spectator Meanwhile in Brussels… – Laura Kuenssberg for the BBC Government official ‘does not recognise’ reported Brexit bill settlement – Reuters Pound sterling jumps on reports of UK-EU agreement on Brexit divorce bill – Independent Iain Duncan Smith: I would be very happy if they get to a point where they have agreed and can get on to trade negotiations – Daily Mail Taxpayers deserve to know why Theresa May thinks this Brexit bill is worth it – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Analysis: Theresa May risks the wrath of Brexiteers to calm the fears of British businesses – Peter Foster for the Telegraph (£) May gets tough on EU and rejects €55 billion demand – Express May’s EU transition plan to cost Britain at least £28bn after Brexit – Express David Davis is right to withhold sensitive Brexit information from Parliament, says Tory MP… Sensitive information about the Government’s preparations for Brexit should be kept secret from Parliament because Remainers want to use it “against the national interest”, a Tory MP has warned. Craig Mackinlay, a member of the influential exiting the EU select committee, said David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, was right to withhold material from its members because they could not be trusted not to leak it. – Telegraph …as Ministers may trigger new vote to block release of full Brexit studies Ministers could avoid having to release a list of Brexit impact assessments in full by triggering a new vote in the Commons, they have suggested. Brexit minister Robin Walker said he would “very seriously” consider the move during questions on the issue on Tuesday. It came as Labour and the SNP suggested they would pursue an allegation against the Government that it was in “contempt of Parliament”. The row focuses on Brexit Secretary David Davis’ refusal to hand over all information collated on how 58 industrial sectors will be affected by leaving the EU. – Sky News Britain’s Brexit-ready banks a boon for government… The Bank of England has given an unwitting boost to UK Chancellor Philip Hammond. Last week, Hammond said he wanted to raise 15 billion pounds to meet fiscal targets by selling the state’s 71 percent holding in Royal Bank of Scotland. His job has been made easier by the fact that the BoE awarded the bank a clean bill of health in its stress tests. The Bank of England’s stress tests were designed to test the banks’ ability to withstand a chaotic exit from the European Union. The sector was put through a hellish scenario including a UK economic contraction of 4.7 percent and a one-third fall in residential property prices, but they still kept a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 8.3 percent. – Reuters …as banking giant warns that Jeremy Corbyn becoming PM ‘would be worse than Brexit’ The prospect of Labour winning the next General Election and Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister is a bigger threat to British business than Brexit, according to Morgan Stanley. The US investment banking giant expects Britain to hold another election towards the end of next year, once it will become apparent Theresa May’s government will not be able to secure the Brexit deal they have hoped for. In the scenario painted by the lender, that would in turn lead to infighting within the Conservative party and open the door for Labour to seize power for the first time since 2010. – IBTimes No trade deal would cost EU twice as many jobs as Britain More than twice as many jobs will be lost in the EU as in Britain if we leave without a trade deal, a report says. About 1.2 million jobs would vanish in the remaining 27 EU countries after a ‘hard Brexit’, with nearly 530,000 axed here. The findings were seized on as evidence that it was in the interests of both the UK and Europe to strike a deal. – Daily Mail Boost for Brexit negotiations as Ireland’s deputy PM quits to prevent election Ireland’s beleaguered deputy prime minister has resigned to save her minority government and prevent a snap election that risked derailing delicate Brexit negotiations over the Irish border. Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald today told a cabinet meeting she will quit over a scandal that threatened to topple Leo Varadkar’s minority government. – Telegraph (£) ‘This is anathema for Unionists’: The Telegraph answers your questions on the Irish border conundrum – Telegraph (£) Diane Abbott says she would back referendum on final Brexit deal… Shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, wrote to two constituents this month pledging she would argue in favour of a referendum on the final Brexit deal, a policy that has previously been specifically ruled out by the party. The Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington in London, wrote: “I will argue for the right of the electorate to vote on any deal that is finally agreed”, although when asked by the Guardian if her remarks were in line with Labour’s official no second referendum position she said her comments were “poorly worded”. – Guardian …as Labour softens stance towards permanent customs union membership What impact will the stand-off between Britain and Ireland over Brexit have on Labour policy? This is an issue worth contemplating as Dublin presses ahead with its tough stance on maintaining an invisible border between Northern Ireland and the republic. Until now, Labour’s Brexit policy has looked confused. On one hand, Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour leadership have maintained a strongly pro-Brexit stance, one which seems committed to taking the UK out of the single market and customs union. Mr Corbyn sees the EU as a capitalist club and sounds as if he wants to unshackle Britain from the EU’s hostility to state aid to industry. – FT (£) GM crops will continue to be banned in Britain after Brexit says Michael Gove in potential blow to UK/US trade deal Food made from genetically modified crops will continue to be banned in the UK after Britain leaves the European Union, Michael Gove has suggested. The Environment secretary’s admission could damage Britain’s attempts to negotiate a trade deal outside of the EU because the US is expected to push for more GM-based foods to be sold in the UK. Britain is under intense pressure from the US to drop the EU’s ban on GM foods after Brexit to help speed a trade deal with the US. – Telegraph UK carmakers seek Brexit transition that is ‘not time-limited’ The UK car industry has demanded a Brexit transition period with no time limit, if the sector is to avert a potential crash in its competitiveness. The plea was made by Tony Walker, the president of the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), in his speech to the organisation’s annual dinner attended by the Business Secretary. – Sky News Brexit Britain looks to China Chinese companies hold majority shares in, or own two Premier League football clubs — Southampton FC and West Bromwich Albion — and three Championship clubs: Aston Villa, Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Liam Fox’s department wants to deepen ties further still. Officials said they are eyeing President Xi’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” the grand — but vague — “New Silk Road” development strategy aimed at boosting economic ties (and Chinese influence) across the Eurasian landmass. – Politico Construction industry warns of Brexit ‘cliff edge’ over EU workers The construction sector has come together to warn the Government of the danger to the industry if there is a “cliff edge” for vital EU workers created by Brexit, as it targets building 300,000 homes a year. Official statistics suggest that 12.6pc of construction workers across the UK are foreign-born, of which 5.7pc are from EU-accession countries, such as Romania. That proportion rises to around 50pc in London and the South East. – Telegraph Liam Halligan: Britain should not fear “no deal” with the EU on trade Trading with the European Union under World Trade Organisation rules is ‘perfectly manageable’ for the UK, the world’s leading trade diplomat told me last week. This is an important intervention – one that could impact the UK’s Article 50 negotiations with Brussels. Having been granted an audience with Roberto Azevedo, I travelled to the WTO’s Geneva Headquarters. Formal interviews with the Director-General are rare – and Azevedo has barely commented on Brexit since the UK’s referendum on EU membership back in June 2016. – Liam Halligan for UnHerd Mark Harper: After Brexit we must treat EU nationals the same as all other immigrants Migration can be good for Britain if it makes us all richer – not just those that have come here to work. It can also benefit the public finances and help with the budget deficit, but only if those coming have sufficient skills and earn a large enough salary. After we have left the EU, our migration policy for new EU nationals coming here to work should be brought in line with those from outside the EU – based on skills and what they can contribute to our country, not where they are from. This will also make a big difference as we seek to strike trade deals with countries around the world. – Mark Harper MP for the Times (£) Telegraph: Now we’ve put the money on the table, we must get a deal or walk away Our Europe Editor reports that a deal has been reached between the Government and EU negotiators on the so-called Brexit divorce payment. This will settle, for the time being at least, one of the three matters that Brussels insisted upon resolving before agreeing to wider talks about Europe’s future relationship with the UK. The other two – the rights of EU citizens remaining in Britain and the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland – are still under discussion. Progress will need to be made on both of these before the Council of Ministers meet in Brussels on December 14. – Telegraph editorial Asa Bennett: Michel Barnier won’t show his hand, yet Remainers expect David Davis to do exactly that A deluge of dodgy metaphors has been employed to help explain Brexit. One of the most popular is to compare it to a card game, namely poker. That may not sum up the full complexity of the negotiation process, but it does highlight a key lesson: Only a fool would play with their cards on show. Last year, Labour claimed to respect that. Sir Keir Starmer insisted, when pushing for more detail about the Government’s Brexit strategy, that there should be “no disclosure of material that could be reasonably judged to damage the UK in any negotiations to depart from the European Union”. But his principle didn’t last long. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Nigel Farage: This £40bn government sellout to the EU will unite the British people in disgust The Telegraph exclusive revealing that the Government is prepared to pay over £40billion sterling is totally and utterly unacceptable. Recent opinion polling has showed that only 11 per cent of the British population would support a bill in that region. For a sum of this magnitude to be agreed in return for nothing more than a promise of a decent settlement on trade represents a complete and total sellout. From the very beginning, during the referendum itself, I argued that no deal is better than a bad deal, and make no mistake about it, this is a bad deal. – Nigel Farage MEP for the Telegraph (£) Daniel Hannan: You can understand why the Irish are getting tetchy about Brexit You can understand why the Irish are upset about Brexit. It is, from their point of view, a wholly unlooked-for nuisance. If things go badly, trade with their chief market will be prejudiced and a border might return. If things go well, there could be pressure for Ireland to follow the UK. Neither option is palatable. Behind these concrete fears lies a more inchoate sense that Brexit heralds the return of a more assertive UK – something that disturbs the Irish psyche. So we can surely forgive a certain degree of tetchiness in the tone of some Irish politicians. Following the Belfast Agreement and the Queen’s visit to Dublin and Cork, UK-Ireland relations were as warm as they had ever been. As they see it, everything is now imperilled by a spasm of British nationalism. – Daniel Hannan MEP for IBTimes Brexit in brief Green energy can power a new age of British manufacturing prominence – Jay Hambro for the Telegraph (£) Politicians must stand firm and capitalise on Brexit – John Caudwell for the Telegraph (£) Britain should cut short the EU’s grasping over the Brexit bill by being canny with its money – Richard Ellis for the Telegraph (£) J.K. Rowling, Russian interference and the deleted Dan Hannan Brexit post – Iain Martin for Reaction Brexit won’t stop Britain building, says Sajid Javid – Big Issue