UK Seeks Progress on Citizens’ Rights as Brexit Talks Resume – Bloomberg

Brexit Secretary David Davis urged U.K. and European Union negotiators to push for progress on resolving thorny questions around the rights of citizens resident in each others nations during the second round of divorce talks starting Monday in Brussels.

We made a good start last month, and this week well be getting into the real substance, Davis said in a statement released by his office. Protecting the rights of all our citizens is the priority for me going into this round, and Im clear that its something we must make real progress on.

Daviss urgency has a practical reason: with the clock ticking down to Britains scheduled EU exit in March 2019, citizens rights is one of three areas, along with the Irish border and Britains exit bill, that EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier says need sufficient progress before hell discuss future ties with the U.K. That relationship is crucial to determining the countrys future economic health, and clarity on it is needed to put business at ease.

Its absolutely clear that businesses, where they have discretion over investment, where they can hold off, are doing so, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammondsaid Sunday on BBC Televisions Andrew Marr Show.And you can understand why. Theyre waiting for more clarity about what the future relationship with Europe will look like.

Envoys will negotiate in Brussels through Thursday. Theyll attempt to hammer out an agreement on what rights some 3.2 million EU citizens in Britain and another million Britons living in the EU will retain after Brexit.Prime Minister Theresa Mays proposals last month met a tepid reception from her EU counterparts, who said they didnt go far enough.

Davis has warned May repeatedly that the uncertain fate of the citizens was souring his meetings with member states, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg this month. Even so, she rejected his pleas to make an unconditional pledge on their rights.

May faces the daunting task of navigating Brexitafter being stripped of her majority in the House of Commons in Junes election, while holding her Conservative government together amid squabbling ministers and talk of a potential putsch.

Some 30 Tory lawmakers would back a leadership bid by Davis, the Sunday Telegraph reported, citing unidentified allies of the Brexit secretary including two former cabinet ministers. A Sunday Times newspaper story on the divisions amid positioning to succeed May was illustrated by an image of Hammond, Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson aiming pistols at each other.

Capping the premiers woes were two surveys in the weekend papers: a Survation poll for the Mail on Sunday that put the opposition Labour Party two points ahead of Mays Tories, and an Opinium survey that found 57 percent of people think May should resign before the next scheduled general election in 2022.

More divisions were exposed on Sunday when Hammond said transitional arrangements for Britain leaving the European Union are likely to last a couple of years, rather than the few months suggested by Trade Secretary Liam Fox.

It depends how long we need to put in place new customs systems, new migration systems; these things cant be magicked up overnight, Hammond said. Were not going to be talking a couple of months, we are going to be talking a couple of years.

Hammond is a leading advocatein the cabinet for a so-called soft Brexit, in contrast to campaigners for a clean break such as Fox. The trade secretary said in a Bloomberg TV interview on July 13 that he would be very happy with a transition period of just a few months.

Speaking on BBC TVs Sunday Politics show, Fox sought to downplay differences with Hammond. As long as we leave in March 2019, then Im happy, as long as weve got a very time-limited transitional period to make it work for business, he said.

The infighting goes further than Brexit. The Sunday Times cited five unidentified sources as saying Hammond had described public-sector workers as overpaid during the cabinet meeting last week, and was criticized by Johnson for the statement. Johnson is among ministers whove suggested the Treasurys cap on public-sector pay should be eased. Meanwhile, Saturdays Sun newspaper reported that Hammond made a sexist comment about women driving trains.

Some of the noise is generated by people who are not happy with the agenda that I have, over the last weeks, tried to advance of ensuring that we achieve a Brexit which is focused on protecting our economy, Hammond said.

There was little let-up on Monday, with the Telegraph citing an unidentified cabinet minister as accusing Hammond of trying to frustrate Brexit, and treating pro-leave colleagues as if they were pirates who had kidnapped him.

Two reports set for release on Monday illustrate the tricky path May must navigate as she tries to balance the wishes of those who want to soften Brexit by staying in the single market and customs union, and those who are prepared for the country to drop out even if no deal on future ties is reached.

The group Migration Watch, which argues for lower immigration, said in a report that if the U.K. remains in the single market and thus subject to free-movement rules after Brexit, net migration from the EU is likely to continue at about 125,000 people a year for at least the next decade, keeping overall annual net migration at about 250,000. May has vowed to pull out of the single market and cut immigration to the tens of thousands.

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AUniversity of Sussex study focusing on the food supply showed the potential consequences of no deal: tariffs of as much as 22 percent, the need to replace a vast array of food standard institutions across Europe, and tricky questions of how to replace EU subsidies and farm laborers who often take seasonal work that British citizens dont want. The U.K. food system is like the rabbit caught in the headlights, with no goals, no leadership, and eviscerated key ministries, the academics wrote.

We keep being told by our politicians that Brexit can be delivered easily,Gus ODonnell, who as a former cabinet secretary was once the countrys top civil servant, wrote in the Observer on Sunday. This isnt correct. Believe me, we are embarking on a massive venture. There is no way all these changes will happen smoothly and absolutely no chance that all the details will be hammered out in 20 months.

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UK Seeks Progress on Citizens' Rights as Brexit Talks Resume - Bloomberg