EU, UK close to agreeing new Brexit talks

Bloomberg

The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator said he’s ready to
intensify the pace of talks with
the UK, as the window of opportunity to begin trade talks this
year is closing.
“I’m ready to speed up negotiations,” Michel Barnier told reporters in the Slovak capital Bratislava on Tuesday. “We have proposed three dates, three weeks of new rounds of negotiations. In the next few hours or days, we’re working with the British delegation to find the right dates.”
Almost two weeks after German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s warm words at an October summit no date has been fixed for policy negotiations to resume, with confusion on both sides as to where the other stands and contingency planning well underway. In London, the focus of Cabinet discussions was on the planning for leaving rather than getting a deal from smooth separation.
The EU is puzzled about the UK’s approach in the negotiations, according to a senior official from a core European government. The UK has brought no new elements to the table, that would allow to settle the separation bill, the official said, asking not to be named, in line with policy.
UK Brexit Secretary David Davis has proposed moving the talks away from the current pattern of four-day sessions held once a month in Brussels, a person familiar with the UK position said. The British side, which has engaged in some shuttle diplomacy since the summit, is keen to pivot the discussion to future trade.
But the EU first want the contours of a financial settlement delineated. Only when European leaders such as Germany’s Merkel agree that the UK and EU have made “sufficient progress” on the divorce terms will they allow talks to move on to post-Brexit trade. Prime Minister Theresa May’s next chance to win this approval is at the EU summit on Dec. 14.
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SPINNING WHEELS
Even though the EU welcomed May’s Florence back in September, in which the British premier promised to honor the U.K’s liabilities stemming from its membership in the bloc, the EU wants the commitments spelled out in detail in a binding document, the European official said.
The British government has so far been resisting such calls, insisting instead that the exact met-hodology for calculating the bill can only be agreed once the fut-ure trade relationship is also
discussed and agreed.
Apart from the exit bill, the EU says that it still needs more clarifications from the UK on the role of the European Court of Justice in guaranteeing the rights of citizens stemming from the withdrawal agreement, and it still waits
for concrete proposals from London on how to avoid a hard border in Ireland.
Meanwhile, the UK government’s preparatory work for Brexit “has seen a significant acceleration in recent months,” May’s spokesman, James Slack, said after Davis briefed other ministers on Tuesday during a cabinet meeting in London devoted to the issue.
Almost 3,000 new jobs within the government have been crea-ted to support Brexit planning, including the recruitment of 300
additional lawyers, Slack said.
The UK tax agency will take
on as many as 5,000 extra staff
next year, while departments
are drawing up 300 separate
programs for Brexit.
“Each of these plans prepares the country for the range of
negotiated outcomes and a ‘no deal’ scenario for a policy area affected by the UK leaving the EU,” Slack said. “The plans set out detailed delivery timelines including, for example, to recruit and train new staff; to design and procure IT systems; and to deliver the
necessary legislative and regulatory changes.”
May’s deputy, First Secretary of State Damian Green, will head a new Brexit and trade cabinet sub-committee, with a focus on domestic preparedness and legislation.

Corbyn’s plan to get Tories to give up 58 Brexit secrets
Bloomberg

The main UK opposition party wants to deploy a parliamentary tool hardly used since the 19th century to get Theresa May’s Conservatives to spill Brexit secrets. The political prize? The release of 58 studies on how leaving the European Union will affect industries that make up 88 percent of the economy.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said he didn’t want to publish the studies because it would compromise the UK’s negotiating position. He had listed the sectors in a letter but stopped short of revealing more.
Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour wants to use an obscure legislative device to force the hand of Tories, who have been coy about what the economic fallout might be when the country leaves the 28-nation bloc.
Labour will argue that lawmakers should have the right to see the studies, and will ask Parliament to vote to make “an humble address” to Queen Elizabeth II, asking her to order her ministers to release the assessments to the House of Commons Brexit Committee.
This means-to-an-end hasn’t been used much since Victorian times. “Ministers cannot keep withholding vital information from Parliament about the impact of Brexit on jobs and the economy,” Labour Brexit spoke-sman Keir Starmer said in an emailed statement. The vote is the latest example of Labour exploiting the current tight parliamentary arithmetic to put May’s Brexit strategy under scrutiny.