Job Opportunities Galore…….

Brexit: UK ready to 'buy in' trade experts.

The UK is retraining civil servants as post-Brexit trade negotiators but is also set to "buy in" expertise from outside, a top official has told MPs. The UK's capacity to negotiate trade deals with other countries after Brexit has been queried, with up to 100 staff needed alone for a single agreement. Oliver Griffiths said negotiators were not "mythical creatures" and current staff had many of the skills required. But he said the civil service would need to recruit "across the piece". Whitehall is expected to have to recruit thousands - as many as 30,000 according to a recent internal Deloitte's assessment - of civil servants to deal with the challenge of extricating the UK from the EU after June's referendum vote. There are particular concerns about a shortage of trade negotiators, given that many of the UK's most experienced professionals in this field are currently working for the EU - which arranges trade deals for all member states including the UK - and are not guaranteed to return.

David Davis: UK may pay for access to EU single market.

The UK would consider making payments to the EU after it leaves the bloc to secure the best possible access to the EU single market, Brexit Secretary David Davis has said. Mr Davis told MPs the "major criterion" was getting the best access for goods and services to the European market. "And if that is included... then of course we would consider it." But Brexit-backing Tory Peter Bone said "people would be absolutely outraged" if the UK continued to pay the EU. His comments prompted sterling to rise by 1% to $1.26 against the dollar. But Mr Bone told the BBC: "People will be absolutely outraged if we came out of the EU and then carried on paying them £15bn a year, £20bn a year, whatever the figure is - no I don't think it's going to happen. In that very hypothetical case people will be exceptionally upset about it. But it's just not going to happen." However, Chancellor Philip Hammond backed Mr Davis, saying: "You can't go into any negotiation expecting to get every single objective that you set out with and concede nothing along the way - it will have to be a deal that works for both sides. I think David Davis is absolutely right not to rule out the possibility that we might want to contribute in some way to some form of mechanism."

Brexit EU customs union deal possible - trade minister.

The UK could seek a deal which would allow sections of the economy to remain within the EU's customs union after Brexit, international trade minister Greg Hands has suggested. Mr Hands said officials would be able to choose the type of products to be covered by agreements. The union operates alongside the EU's single market and free trade area. It comes after the Brexit secretary said the UK would consider paying for "best possible" single market access. The customs union includes all 28 EU nations, but also Turkey, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra and non-EU UK territories such as the Channel Islands. They enjoy free trade with each other, but must impose the same tariffs on goods from nations outside the pact and are barred from doing bilateral trade deals with other countries. Bloomberg news agency published remarks Mr Hands made in an interview this week in which he said the "history of international trade has got all kinds of examples of customs unions." He said the UK could be selective about which individual sectors it wished to be covered by any customs union arrangement. "You can choose which markets, which products the customs unions affect and which they don't, so there isn't a binary thing of being inside the customs union or outside of the customs union," he said.

Boris Johnson: UK won't block EU defence co-operation.

Britain will not seek to obstruct European efforts to develop closer defence co-operation after Brexit, Boris Johnson has said. In a speech in London, the foreign secretary said: "If they want to do that, fine," but said countries should ensure they met their Nato commitments. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has previously said the UK would oppose the move because it could "undermine" Nato. France and Germany have made the case for increased military co-operation. In March 2015, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker declared a common European army was needed to face up to Russia and other threats. In August 2016, the leaders of the Czech Republic and Hungary said a joint European army was needed to bolster security in the EU. The idea is thought to have been given impetus by the UK's Brexit vote.

Hard Brexit 'could cost Tories next election' – MPs.

Pursuing a "hard" Brexit could alienate core Conservative voters and cost the party the next general election, a group of Tory MPs has warned. The group - which includes ex-attorney general Dominic Grieve - said "a moderate core" of Tory voters do not want the party to become "UKIP-lite". PM Theresa May must ensure she is not "pushed" into a hard Brexit, they said. It comes as the Lib Dems overturned a 23,015 Conservative majority to win Thursday's Richmond Park by-election. Ex-Tory MP Zac Goldsmith stood as an independent after leaving the Conservative Party, but Lib Dem Sarah Olney - who fought the campaign on the issue of Brexit - won by more than 1,800 votes. Writing in the Observer newspaper, Mr Grieve, former Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt, ex-transport minister Claire Perry, education select committee chairman Neil Carmichael, and Bath MP Ben Howlett, said the Richmond Park result must serve as a wake-up call for the party. "The Conservative Party needs to be alert that there is a moderate core of Conservative voters, who voted Remain, and who want to hear the Conservative government speaking above the noise of the Brexiters," the quintet wrote. "They do not want the Conservative party to be UKIP-lite, nor to hear that their desire for a negotiated Brexit, with all options open for the prime minister, is an attempt to delay the process or simply an expression of Remoaning." The Richmond Park result should be a reminder "that their votes have another destination if we don't get this right," they added.

All details above from BBC News website.

[Of course for the next few months at least we’ll be in that weird ‘Phoney Brexit’ period where the process has started (along with the clock) but nothing has actually happened yet. It’s far too early for any talks to take place but I guess that they’ll be talking about the scheduling about preliminary talks. At the moment it’ll be minions rushing around trying to get their bosses in the same place at the same time so that the real horse trading can kick off. I’m not expecting much to come from this until the end of the summer or even Christmas time.]