It’s all in the Negotiation…… (STILL catching up)

Labour's 'day one' pledge to EU nationals.

Labour says it would scrap Theresa May's Brexit plans and unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU residents before talks start, if it wins power. While accepting the UK was leaving, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Labour wanted a deal which prioritises jobs and workers' rights. He also said migration rules had to change and that the EU single market should be kept "on the table". The Conservatives said only they had a clear plan for exiting the EU. Ahead of a campaign visit to Wales on Tuesday, Theresa May said the Brexit vote should have been a "wake-up call for a generation of politicians who have taken the people for granted for too long", but instead other parties had "closed ranks". The Conservatives are hoping to take seats from Labour on 8 June in areas which voted to leave the EU, including the Midlands, the north-east and north-west of England and across Wales. Most Labour MPs backed Remain vote in last year's referendum.

Deutsche: Brexit risk to up to 4,000 UK jobs.

Deutsche Bank is considering moving as many as 4,000 jobs out of the UK as a result of Brexit - nearly half the firm's current workforce. The possibility raised by the firm's chief regulatory officer was the latest warning from a financial firm since the UK voted to leave the European Union. Currently, UK-based companies can conduct business throughout Europe, but could lose that right. However, Deutsche Bank has said it is committed to the City of London. Sylvie Matherat, chief regulatory officer at Deutsche, made the remarks on Wednesday. The positions in question include not just front office jobs, but also roles in IT and risk management, she said. "For front office people, if you want to deal with an EU client, you need to be based in the EU," she said during a panel at the Frankfurt Main Finance Conference in Germany. "Does it mean I have to move all the front office people to Germany or not? We're speaking of 2,000 people." She added that an additional 2,000 jobs linked to risk management could also face relocation. "So we really need clarity," Ms Matherat said. "We are the largest bank branch operating in the UK. We do have something like 9,000 people there, so I mean they [staff] do have real questions [including] where do I register my children for in the next two years at school? I mean that is a very concrete question." Despite the warning, the bank last month entered negotiations for a new London headquarters with a 25-year lease.

Barclays boss sounds Brexit talent warning.

Barclays chief executive Jes Staley has said access to talented workers after Brexit is "tremendously important" for the UK's financial sector. He suggested that immigration, rather than trade, would be the biggest issue for the City of London after the UK leaves the European Union. Banks are increasingly becoming technology companies and so they need the best engineers, Mr Staley said. Keeping that talent should be the government's top priority, he added. His comments signal a shift among City groups after suggestions last year that the biggest risk from Brexit was the loss of EU trading rights. Mr Staley told the BBC: "Making sure we have access to the best and brightest of talent around the world coming to London... is perhaps the most important thing for the financial industry, perhaps even more important than passporting." So-called passporting rights allow banks to serve clients across the EU without the need for licences in individual countries. They are considered by some to be vital to London's position as a financial hub. However, Mr Staley, who was speaking at a Brexit event in London, said the strength of the City came from the "intellectual capital" of its workers. For that reason, Google's decision to expand its presence in London was potentially "the most important economic announcement post-Brexit", the Barclays boss said. He added that banks would benefit from the calibre of workers that Google attracts after it made London its second most important development hub outside of San Francisco.

UK economy grows by 0.3% as service sector slows.

The UK economy grew by just 0.3% at the start of the year, the slowest growth rate since the first three months of 2016, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics said that the slower pace in the January-to-March period was due mainly to the service sector, which sank to 0.3% growth against 0.8% at the end of 2016. In the last quarter of 2016, gross domestic product increased by 0.7%. Friday's figure is a first estimate and could be revised in the coming months. Economists had been expecting GDP growth to slow as consumers reined back spending in the face of rising inflation, but they had pencilled in a higher figure of 0.4%. Chris Williamson, chief economist, IHS Markit, said: "The message is clear: the start of the year saw the weakest pace of growth for a year as rising prices have started to hit household spending." The main drag on the service industry, which accounts for about 78% of the UK economy, came from the hotels, restaurants and the distributions sector, which fell by 0.5%, as increasing prices from rising inflation applied the brakes to retail trade.

Brexit: Tusk says UK trade deal not a priority.

European Council President Donald Tusk says agreement on "people, money and Ireland" must come before negotiations on the European Union's future relationship with the UK. Mr Tusk's message came in a letter to 27 other EU leaders - not the UK. He will chair a summit of the 27 in Brussels on Saturday to try to adopt a joint negotiating position on Brexit. The UK government has said it does not want to delay talks on future trade relations. The EU issued draft guidelines on Brexit on 31 March. Official talks will not begin until after the UK general election on 8 June. Mr Tusk's letter - calling for a "phased" approach to Brexit - echoed German Chancellor Angela Merkel's priorities, which she set out on Thursday.

"Before discussing our future, we must first sort out our past," he said, listing three priorities:

On EU citizens living in the UK, he called for "effective, enforceable, non-discriminatory and comprehensive" guarantees

The UK must fulfil all its financial obligations agreed as an EU member state

A deal must be reached "to avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland"

"We will not discuss our future relations with the UK until we have achieved sufficient progress on the main issues relating to the UK's withdrawal from the EU," he said. EU officials estimate that the UK faces a bill of €60bn (£51bn; $65bn) because of EU budget rules. UK politicians have said the government will not pay a sum of that size.

All details above from BBC News website.

[The so-called ‘negotiations’ going on – haltingly – at the moment would be comical if they weren’t so bloody tragic. Still nothing has actually been agreed but apparently progress is being made and the Tories (obviously) want to jump straight to the end and wrap up the trade negotiations in double quick time. Well, I’m sorry to say that Canada took 7 years and I think the quickest ever trade talks took 4 years…. And we’ve got about a year left and 27 other nations (some of which don’t like us very much) all need to agree on it. The odds of that happening? Erm, zero.]