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"The poker analogy which Brexiters use to describe the Article 50 process is very fitting, but not in the way they think.
In terms of understanding the negotiations in Brussels it is largely useless. Poker is about hiding cards. Article 50 is about negotiating when your opponent already knows your cards. But it is fitting on the basis that it relies on reading someone's face. And the three Brexit Musketeers have terrible poker faces.
On Sunday, all three were asked what the government had prepared to do in the event of a no-deal outcome at the end of Article 50. Boris Johnson's face contorted into a kind of pained grin as he insisted the UK would be "perfectly OK" if we fell back onto World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules."
"Downing Street said she would write a letter to the European Council, adding that it hoped negotiations on the terms of exit and future relations could then begin as quickly as possible.
An EU spokesman said it was "ready and waiting" for the letter.
Mrs May's spokesman also rejected reports an early election may be held, saying: "It's not going to happen."
Under the Article 50 process, talks on the terms of exit and future relations are not allowed until the UK formally tells the EU it is leaving.
If all goes according to the two year negotiations allowed for in the official timetable, Brexit should happen in March 2019.
A No 10 spokesman said the UK's Ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, informed the European Council, headed by President Donald Tusk, earlier on Monday of the date that Article 50 would be triggered.
Mrs May is expected to make a statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday shortly after invoking Article 50, setting out her aims.
A spokesman said the government wants negotiations to start as soon as possible but added that they "fully appreciate it is right that the other 27 EU states have time to agree their position".
The BBC's Ben Wright said he expected the Article 50 letter to be short, possibly extending to two pages at most, and for Mrs May to use it to publicly reiterate her general objectives - such as leaving the single market but reaching a mutually beneficial agreement on trade and other issues."
As the UK looks to start the process of leaving the EU next week, optimism reigns that London will remain home for the vital physical infrastructure that underpins trading across Europe’s financial markets.
A 30-mile radius from the City contains a cluster of critical technology sites that power today’s highly computerised markets, including the trading of shares, currencies, bonds, commodities and numerous contracts for derivatives and futures.
No matter the terms of the UK’s eventual divorce from the EU or Brexit — with a triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty expected on March 29 — the City is seen as retaining its status as a key trading hub.
‘’If you’re in the business of trading London is the place to be and Brexit isn’t going to change that,” says Hirander Misra, chief executive of GMEX, a UK trading technology and services group. “It has such a position of dominance within global markets trading it will probably withstand a hard Brexit. Its influence may even increase in the future as it can connect the Americas, Europe and key Asian with Africa and the Middle East.”
For all the uncertainty over certain businesses, notably the clearing of euro-denominated swaps, potentially leaving London for the continent, the City is seen as a highly desirable location for the vital price matching engines in data centres that cement deals in milliseconds across markets.
“I find it highly unlikely that an outcome of Brexit would be that exchange matching engines, data centres and other vital cogs in the execution chain are mandated to be based in the European Union,” says Seth Johnson, chief executive of Nex Markets, which runs the BrokerTec fixed income and EBS currency trading venues.
In the opening minutes, the FTSE 100 rose 27.01 points or 0.37% to 7,370.43.
Best performer was 3i Group, adding 2.4% on the strength of a broker upgrade from Morgan Stanley.
On the currency markets, the pound was down 0.29% against the dollar at $1.2415 and 0.16% down against the euro at 1.1495 euros.
Later on Wednesday, Prime Minister Theresa May is due to give official notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty on the UK's decision to leave the EU.
"We could be in for a rough ride today, as currency traders react to the contents of the letter being delivered to Brussels and the language [Mrs] May uses in Parliament," said Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital.
"And we're in for a long period of volatility for the pound and UK assets as the government embarks on protracted and hugely challenging Brexit negotiations.
"Sterling will be incredibly sensitive to negotiations and will offer a clear gauge of how things are panning out."
Angela Merkel has rejected one of Theresa May’s key Brexit demands, insisting negotiations on Britain’s exit from the European Union cannot run in parallel with talks on the future UK-EU relationship.
“The negotiations must first clarify how we will disentangle our interlinked relationship,” the German chancellor said in Berlin. “Only when this question is dealt with can we – hopefully soon after – begin talking about our future relationship.”
In her six-page letter triggering article 50 and formally launching the process of leaving the EU, the prime minister said she believed it was “necessary to agree the terms of our future partnership alongside those of our withdrawal from the European Union”.
The EU institutions and 27 remaining member states, however, have long said they are determined the divorce settlement, such as the rights of EU citizens in the UK and Britons on the continent and the size of Britain’s exit bill, must first be agreed before substantive talks on a future relationship can begin.
I think the key is understanding how EU representatives such as Merkel, Tusk and Juncker can best meet May in the middle when it comes to UK exit negotiations.
It's a careful balance between safeguarding EU citizens' interests on one hand and UK citizens' on the other.
I don't see a reason for negotiations to get nasty as probably both sides would suffer, but if May thinks the UK is going to come out better off I fear she's in for a disappointment.
