UK hints at compromises on Brexit bill as date set for talks

Bloomberg

The UK signalled it’s preparing to compromise over money in its stand-off with the EU, as a new round of Brexit talks offered the chance to break the deadlock.
The deal on the divorce terms will probably be better for the remaining 27 EU countries than for Britain on the financial settlement, Brexit Secretary David Davis said. The first opportunity for negotiations to resume will be November 9 for a two-day session, according to a joint statement by the UK government and the European Commission.
“The withdrawal agreement, on balance, will probably favour the union in terms of things like money and so on,” Davis told lawmakers in London. “Whereas the future relationship will favour both sides and will be important to both of us.”
The divorce bill is the main sticking point in talks. The EU won’t allow negotiations to move on until an agreement is reached, while the UK side has been reluctant to show its hand, partly because the issue is so divisive at home. Voters were promised that Brexit would bring dividends rather than bills, and some prominent members of the ruling Conservative Party oppose the idea of paying anything at all.
Unblocking talks is urgent: the UK team wants negotiations to move on to the future trading relationship and a two-year transition phase before the end of the year. Otherwise, it faces the growing risk of tumbling out of the bloc with no deal at the March 2019 deadline.
May’s government wanted to resume talks this week but the EU could not fit a new round of talks into its schedule, Davis said. “We want to strategically accelerate the process,” he told the House of Lords EU committee. “We are not holding up the process.”
Davis’s comments to lawmakers came after the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said he’s ready to step up the pace as the window of opportunity for trade talks this year closes.
“I’m ready to speed up negotiations,” Barnier told. “We have proposed three dates, three weeks of new rounds of negotiations. In the next few 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, concern was mounting that no date had 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.

Aston Martin to spend in US
Bloomberg

British luxury sports-car maker Aston Martin Holdings Ltd. has a Brexit contingency plan: crank up spending in the US, its biggest market.
“We’ve been putting a lot of effort in the US,” Chief Executive Officer Andy Palmer said. The reason is the company doesn’t think any contagion will spread to the US in the event consumer confidence drops when Britain leaves the European Union, he said.
In signs the automaker is spending more in the US, Aston Martin last month made a foray into real estate for the first time to establish a broader luxury brand. The Gaydon, England-based automaker is among companies weighing options as the formal process of the UK exiting the EU drags on after last year’s vote.