With some 48 hours to go before she prepares to formalize Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May is rediscovering the lost art of letter writing. With May describing the U.K. as an “unstoppable force,” Mujtaba Rahman of the Eurasia Group reckons her Article 50 letter to EU President Donald Tusk will be a relatively short missive, focusing less on the future relationship and more on the terms of the split. The Sunday Times said the letter will run to eight pages. May will also address Parliament on Wednesday. “There is a belief across U.K. government that failure to include enough language on the divorce could cause problems with EU counterparts,” Rahman said. Gregor Irwin, chief economist at Global Counsel, suggests the U.K. might even flesh out its thinking on matters the EU wants to discuss early on, such as citizens’ rights and the estimated £50 billion exit bill. “No-one is expecting the U.K. to make an offer, but acknowledging this issue and setting out a framework for approaching it is an essential first step in the negotiation, which would be seen as constructive by the EU,” he said. “It could acknowledge that the U.K. has certain obligations, while remaining silent about or rejecting others.” May might want to sound a conciliatory tone, given she’s ending a four-decade old relationship. Ann Linde, Sweden’s EU affairs and trade minister, said in an interview that so far the U.K. has been “really tough” and that “doesn’t make it easier to have constructive discussions when the point is to reach an agreement.” Tusk plans to respond to May within 48 hours by dispatching a draft of Europe’s guidelines around capitals. EU negotiator Michel Barnier wrote in the Financial Times that the talks should be “based on full transparency and public debate,” although EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told the Times that the EU is “prepared for a conflictual situation.” Busy Week Before invoking Article 50, on Monday May will visit Scotland, where First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is arguing that Brexit justifies an independence referendum that May vows to block. On Monday and Tuesday, Britain will host a 400-strong delegation of business leaders and officials from Qatar, with the emirate set to announce major new investments in the U.K. That spending may help cushion any economic fallout from Brexit. On Thursday, the government will set out how it’s going to bring thousands of EU regulations under British control with the aim of providing certainty in the months after Brexit. A contentious part of the so-called “Great Repeal Bill” may be the wide powers it is likely to give ministers to change the rules as they’re converted to U.K. statutes. The government argues this is essential to remove references to European institutions. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said his party would oppose giving ministers broad powers. Meanwhile, the FT reported that May is looking to keep Britain under the remit of some EU agencies after Brexit. Fish and Splits Ian Wishart takes a fisheye view of how complicated the Brexit negotiations will prove. Haggling over fish is a microcosm for the talks, given the complexity of Europe’s fishing rules, the difficulty Britain has in breaking free from them, and how they can be used for leverage on other issues. Ian’s reporting is a telling reminder of why the Brexit bargaining won’t just come down to money and trade. May’s team is about to be confronted with a long series of thorny issues that dive deep into the intricacies of the European relationship — from airline traffic to supply chains to the handling of nuclear material. On The Markets  Money managers are staying away from the pound as May prepares to start Britain’s departure from the EU. BlueBay Asset Management is targeting sterling to move toward parity with the euro over the next year, while PIMCO is “cautious” on the currency, and selling sterling is one of Goldman Sachs’ favorite trades, Stefania Spezzati reports today. “It does look like it’s going to be a very messy divorce and there will be tough times ahead of us in the U.K.,” said Mark Dowding, a London-based fund manager at BlueBay. “We think the outlook is for the pound to go down.” Brexit Bullets
  • A group of industry bodies representing the entire U.K. food supply chain called on the government to seek a tariff-free trade agreement with the EU
  • Open Europe advises May to pull Britain out of the customs union so as to avoid “half in, half out” arrangements, but to also try to seek a transitional agreement for after Brexit
  • Government trade adviser Steve Woolcock tells the Times that there is a risk Britain runs into politically motivated trade deals
  • London stays top of list of global financial centres, but sees lead shrink because of Brexit, according to FT report of annual study by Y/Zen Group in London and the China Development Institute 
  • 23 percent of companies tracked by EY say they are moving staff or operations out of the UK, or reviewing their base as a result of Brexit
  • The Bank of England plans to boost fees on U.K. banks to recover £5.4 million pounds of regulatory costs associated with Brexit.
  • Demos study says parts of the U.K. that backed Brexit may be hardest hit by it, says Guardian
  • U.K. Independence Party loses its only member of Parliament as Douglas Carswell resigns
  • The German head of one of the U.K.’s top nuclear companies is counseling May’s government on what needs to be done to protect a global hub for the industry from Brexit
  • Northern Irish talks aimed at forging a new government broke down, raising the prospect of direct rule from London.
And Finally… The beleaguered pound is proving a boon for the British tourist industry. Foreign holidaymakers made 910,000 visits to the U.K. in January — 19 percent more than in the same month last year, official figures showed Friday. The number of British vacationers going abroad, by contrast, rose just 7 percent.