The EU is to begin preparing for its post-Brexit trade negotiations with the UK, while refusing to discuss the matter with the British government. An internal draft document suggests the 27 EU countries should discuss trade among themselves while officials in Brussels prepare the details. However the draft text could yet be revised.
UK Labour activists have backed a statement clarifying the party’s position on Brexit. The eleventh-hour statement was waved through by a show of hands in the main conference hall, after another day of division in the party over Britain’s EU withdrawal.
The EU and Britain resumed Brexit talks on Monday with fresh clashes, dimming hopes that a speech by Prime Minister Theresa May could provide a breakthrough in unlocking stalled negotiations. The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier insisted that he would not discuss May's call for a two-year post-exit transition deal until there was progress on key issues, including Britain's divorce bill.
Theresa May will tell EU leaders there is a shared responsibility to make Brexit work “smoothly” as she attempts to break the deadlock in negotiations. In a major speech in Florence on Friday, she will say history will judge Brexit “not for the differences we faced, but for the vision we showed”.
The next round of Brexit talks has been postponed by a week to allow more time for consultation. The fourth round of UK-EU negotiations, due to begin on 18 September, will start on the 25th instead.
United Kingdom manufacturers have warned of a recruitment crunch if they are unable to keep hiring EU workers after Brexit. The manufacturers body, EEF, says the government must clarify the rights of EU workers as a matter of urgency underlining that a quarter of 243 firms it surveyed had already seen an increase in EU nationals leaving their business.
Brexit Secretary David Davis has accused Labour of a “cynical political exercise” to undermine the “only viable plan” to deliver withdrawal from the European Union. His attack came as MPs clashed in the House of Commons over the Government’s flagship Brexit Bill, which Labour has denounced as an undemocratic “power grab” by ministers.
Britain's Labour will vote against the Brexit Repeal Bill because it will allow ministers to “grab power from Parliament” to slash rights at work and cut protection for consumers and the environment. The party’s statement came as Brexit Secretary David Davis was preparing to deliver a House of Commons statement on a summer of negotiations which the European Union claims has failed to deliver “decisive” progress.
Spain is pushing for the European Union to adopt restrictive measures against members of the Venezuelan government as a way of encouraging a return to constitutional order in the crisis-hit country, the Spanish foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Brexit Secretary David Davis is to update MPs on last week's negotiations with the European Union later. Davis will make a statement in the House of Commons about the progress of the third round of Brexit talks. It comes after the prime minister said the UK is ready to intensify talks rather than stick to its one-week-a-month schedule.