News from the Brexit Cliff Edge

Welcome to the Brexit Cliff Edge

Turkey worries about a Halloween Brexit

• A new UN report says that if the UK leaves the EU on No Deal Brexit terms later in the year, Turkey will be an unlikely casualty. It will lose access to its second largest export market because of its customs arrangement with the EU. Turkey is already in recession after last year's Lira crisis knocked some 30% off its value. A no deal Brexit would make economic recovery in Turkey a remote prospect

The City of London's Brexit lobbying barage failed

• Initial efforts to build new financial services connections via lobbying efforts failed, in the most part, due to a perception of arrogance - 'you need us more than we need you' - which got people's backs up. Now the tone has changed along with a realism that the partnership with Europe is not going to be as bright as anyone had expected

Labour will 'haemorrhage' votes if it fails to back second referendum in EU elections, MEP leader warns Corbyn

• MEP Richard Corbett, who leads the Labour group in Brussels, said his party could lose traction with the young, pro-European electorate if Labour fails to confirm support for a public vote on a Brexit deal.

UK businesses at most gloomy since referendum - Deloitte

• A new Deloitte survey says that 8 out of 10 finance leaders are expecting the long-term business environment to worsen as a result of the UK leaving the EU. Pessimism about the short term effects of Brexit remains high, with 49% of CFOs expecting to reduce capital expenditure and 22% anticipating having to trim M&A activity. More than half (53%) plan to cut hiring staff because of Brexit

UK economy is leaning heavily on consumer spending as Brexit drags an anchor on business

• As spending on business investment falls and exports slow, the economy is being propped up (just), by consumer spending. The Bank of England Governor Mark Carney recognised the risks this involves when he said; 'when expansion is reliant on consumer spending, you start watching the clock to try to gauge how much longer it will all last'

Operation Brock kills purple carpet of rare orchids

• Volunteers from the Kent Wildlife Trust had grown a purple carpet of rare bee and common orchids over 15 years. Along came Kent County Council and bulldozed the whole area to make way for a drainage ditch for Operation Brock, the plan to tackle lorry queues for customs coming to and from Dover in the event of a No Deal Brexit

Brittany Ferries says it has seen Brexit-linked costs increase by £43m since the referendum

• Brittany Ferries says it has seen Brexit-linked costs increase by £43m since the referendum. In 2017, 4.8m heavy goods vehicles operated these routes

Edinburgh airport boss raises Brexit uncertainty and tax concerns

• The boss of Scotland's busiest airport said the industry is an uncomfortable place to be with high airport taxes and Brexit uncertainty.

Irish hospitals are actively recruiting Irish nurses in UK hospitals due to Brexit

• Organisers of the Nursing & Midwifery Fair held in London last weekend said that there has been a sharp rise in Irish nurses looking to leave the UK and go back to work in the Irish healthcare sector

London finance sector job openings have halved in last two years, due to Brexit jitters

• Recruiter, Morgan McKinley, said the number of jobs in the city's financial services industry, and the number of finance professionals seeking new jobs, has fallen by more than half across the last two years, The inability of the government to reach a Brexit consensus has 'crushed confidence among City employers' Hakan Enver, MD at Morgan McKinley said in a statement

Senior Tories fear thousands of Brexit activists are infiltrating the Conservative Party

• The Sun confirmed that a fresh surge of 30,000 people have joined the Conservatives within the last 12 months, boosting overall numbers to more than 150,000, a seven year high. Some party insiders are saying this is a symptom of external forces at play, with new members seeking to inflitrate in order to pick the next Prime Minister

Corbyn publicly states 'it is a challenge to negotiate with a government that is collapsing'

• Jeremy Corbyn attacked Theresa May for coming to Labour too late in the day during the Brexit process. He said she was making promises as her government was collapsing around her. Even so, Labour is 'engaging in the talks in a serious and constructive fashion'

Any kind of harm to the Good Friday Agreement would scupper a US-UK trade deal post-Brexit - Nancy Pelosi

• At an event held in the LSE in central London, U.S. House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, made it clear that if the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland was altered in some way, because of Brexit reintroducing a hard border, there would be no chance of a UK-USA trade deal

Theresa May sent 3 Brexiteers to meet the EU's Michel Barnier for discussions as a 'reality check' for them

• Arlene Foster, Owen Paterson and Ian Duncan Smith were sent to Brussels to meet with the EU's chief negotiator so that the three could put their case against the Irish backstop in Mrs May's withdrawal agreement and learn why it would not wash with Michel Barnier

Labour is not interested in solving the Tory Brexit dilemma

• Former Tory minister, William Hague, warned the government that Labour is not interested in solving Brexit and only wants to destroy the Tories in an article in the Telegraph

Theresa May not considering an election during her walking break

• The last time Theresa May went on a walking holiday in Wales she came back and called a snap General Election, in which she duly lost her overall Parliamentary majority. Now she's off walking again the press have begun speculating

John Bercow looks set to remain to kill off Brexit

• The Daily Mail said the current Speaker is planning to stay on until Brexit is sorted before stepping down

Labour-Tory Brexit talks back on this week

• The stuttering Brexit talks between the two parties is continuing this week as they search for agreement on a way ahead for Brexit

No Deal Brexit preparations are NOT winding down after all

• The PM sent an email to all officials saying planning for a No Deal Brexit must continue, albeit with sensibly adjusted timescales, signed off by top civil servants

Downing Street under pressure to close down Labour talks on Brexit

• No 10 is receiving warnings that Labour is in no hurry to agree an alternative brexit plan and the Conservatives are liable to suffer at the local election and European election ballot boxes as a result