The Cabinet Office minister, David Lidington, has warned that relations between Britain and France are at “a fork in the road” – and the only alternative to the prime minister’s Chequers plan is a no-deal Brexit. Ministers are concerned the French government remains deeply sceptical about the approach spelled out in its July white paper, prompting Theresa May to fly to Emmanuel Macron’s holiday home earlier this month to try to win the president over.

In a speech delivered to French business leaders on Wednesday afternoon, Lidington, who in effect serves as May’s deputy, warned it was too late to go back to the drawing board. “With exactly seven months until the end of the article 50 process and less than two months ahead of the October European council we face the choice between the pragmatic proposals we are discussing now with the European commission, or no deal,” he said.(theguardian)…[+]