Brexit

David Davis 'will retire and leave Brexit transition to Boris Johnson'

David Davis plans to retire in 2019 and leave Boris Johnson to steer the UK through the transitional period, The Telegraph can reveal.

The Brexit secretary told friends that Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, "needs this to work more than I do" because he plans to step aside in June 2019 whereas Mr Barnier will still be in post.

Mr Davis believes Brexit will be his "last big job", friends told this newspaper.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson told Conservative activists that Brussels believes Britain will "bottle it" over Brexit.

The Foreign Secretary told a fringe meeting at the party conference that some EU leaders believe Britain will lose its nerve during the Brexit negotiations and try to cancel Article 50.

Another minister has said there are senior figures in the EU who think Britain is reluctant to leave.

It comes amid growing discontent within the party at Theresa May's leadership on Brexit ahead of a key conference speech on Wednesday in which she will attempt to pull warring factions together.

Mr Davis told friends he plans to "retire" in 2019 when the UK leaves the union, sparking fears the move will trigger a reshuffle and a potential leadership challenge.

Asked why he does not plan to stay on during the transitional period Mr Davis said "someone else... Boris Johnson" can deal with the two year period after the UK leaves.

Hyperion wrote:Retiring to Spain as well probably

Moggy wrote:

Hyperion wrote:Retiring to Spain as well probably

Catalonia hopefully.

Squinty wrote:I'm starting to get this feeling that May will give the EU an ultimatum soon, to solidify her party support. Make progress to the point where we can discuss trade, or we walk.

Her attempt to break the deadlock doesn't seem to have worked, they haven't addressed the issue of not having a clue how to proceed with key issues.

Ministers are looking for “quick wins” to move away from the European safety standards regime, according to a leaked email.

A Brexit official in the Business Department also suggested in the message that Amazon reviews could replace the “CE European standards mark” in the eyes of online shoppers. The revelations immediately sparked concerns that the system for ensuring the safety of electrical equipment, toys, machinery, medical devices and other products could be watered down after Britain quits the EU.

The CE marking shows that a manufacturer has checked that their products meet EU safety, health or environmental requirements, indicates compliance with EU legislation and allows the free movement of products within the European market. In the email, the Brexit official asks for any “evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that businesses are saying they don’t want divergence”.

She then adds: “Similarly, any sectors who are suggesting they would like early divergence (we are also looking for quick wins!)”.

The message then discusses the shift in shopping trends to online.

“I actually wonder, given the UK consumer penchant for internet shopping, the extent to which an Amazon review will supersede any mark to demonstrate conformity with safety requirements,” the official says.

Seven trading heavyweights slam the British government’s position on quotas after Brexit.

The U.S. and other international trade heavyweights have dashed Prime Minister Theresa May’s hopes of a smooth Brexit by rejecting one of her core plans for reintegrating into global trade networks.

Washington’s slap-down of Britain is the second big trade reality check for May in less than a fortnight. Only last week, the U.K.’s increasingly fragile position in trade disputes was exposed by the country’s inability to prevent new, ultra-high tariffs from the U.S. that could hit thousands of jobs in a plane factory in Northern Ireland.

In a fast-developing second trade spat, Washington has teamed up with Brazil, Argentina, Canada, New Zealand, Uruguay and Thailand to reject Britain’s proposed import arrangements for crucial agricultural goods such as meat, sugar and grains after Brexit. The fact that the U.K.’s opponents include the U.S., Canada and New Zealand is a significant setback because Britain is trying to style its former colonies as natural strategic and commercial allies after it has quit the EU.

Since August, Britain and the EU have repeatedly insisted that they had reached an agreement on the terms under which Britain would buy in food from around the world after Brexit.

Brussels currently negotiates all these quotas and tariffs on behalf of Britain and the 27 other EU countries jointly, but London will need to take independent control of these policies from March 2019. That creates a dilemma over how to divide up the EU’s current quota arrangements with other countries — agreed at the World Trade Organization — between the U.K. and the remaining 27. These tariff-rate quotas allow countries outside the EU to export certain goods into the bloc with reduced duties, but only up to a maximum limit.

The argument from Britain and the EU is that the rest of the world will be “no worse off” after Brexit — a key legal defense in trade disputes — if the EU’s quotas are simply reduced, and Britain takes a share of them. British Trade Minister Liam Fox told POLITICO in an interview that Britain had agreed to take a portion of the EU’s quotas based on the U.K.’s average consumption over the last three years.

America and the six other big food exporters, however, wrote an unusually sharply worded letter of complaint dated September 26 to the U.K. and EU representatives at the World Trade Organization over the terms of such an arrangement.

“We cannot accept such an agreement,” reads the letter, seen by POLITICO. The seven countries dispute the legal defense that the proposed post-Brexit arrangement would leave them “no worse off.”

Squinty wrote:Did anyone watch those Brexit debates on Ch4?

Halfway through the remain one, I intend to watch the leave one as well.