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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

At least one UK businessman is attaching a condition [bbc.com] to his continued support of the ruling Conservative Party:

A major Tory donor has threatened to stop funding the party if Theresa May plans to remove the UK from the "critical" single market after Brexit. Sir Andrew Cook, who has given more than £1.2m to the party, told BBC Radio 4 that ending single market access was "chronic and dangerous" to the economy. The engineering firm chairman said at least one of his factories was almost "entirely dependent" on access to it.

Sir Andrew backed the Remain campaign in the EU referendum. "There are barriers to entry without the single market, there are tariffs," said Sir Andrew, who chairs William Cook, his family's firm which makes components for the rail, energy and defence industries. "One of my factories has 200 people employed making engineering parts that go to France, Germany and Italy," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Also at Reuters [reuters.com]. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has offered to take a Scottish independence referendum off the table in exchange for a "soft Brexit" [theguardian.com] involving access to the single market.

The BBC reports that while the EU's presence in London is likely to shrink [bbc.com], organizations like the European Banking Authority (EBA) could might stick around if the UK remains in the single market.

Finally, have you applied for your Irish passport [theguardian.com] yet?

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