By Mathew Rea (October 19, 2017, 11:40 AM EDT) -- Many U.K. business people will have returned from their summer vacations alarmed at the apparent lack of progress in the Brexit negotiations. Neither the prime minister's recent speech in Florence, nor the latest round of negotiations between Brexit secretary David Davis and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, will have given them much comfort. With the U.K.'s exit from the single market looming, and no clear indication yet of what the terms of that exit will be, let alone the terms of any future relationship, or transitional arrangements before we get there, many businesses will be concerned that they may soon need to start taking decisions assuming the worst. That is that we will have no deal, and will fall off a "cliff edge" on B-day on March 30, 2019....