Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Change UK/The Independent Group leader says No Deal should be on the ballot in a second referendum… The option of a no-deal Brexit should be on the ballot paper for any second referendum, Change UK interim leader Heidi Allen has suggested. The South Cambridgeshire MP, who defected from the Conservatives in February to join The Independent Group, said she had “some sympathy” with no deal being an option because it offered a “clean Brexit”. She suggested that voters could be given a choice between any Brexit deal approved by parliament, remaining in the EU and leaving without an agreement. Change UK is committed to campaigning for a fresh referendum on Brexit. Asked how another vote would work, she told The House magazine: “There’s clearly a bit more knocking around to do in the House of Commons in terms of what the emerging article is… Perhaps we have another round of indicative votes. Whatever comes out of that we put to the British people in a referendum versus Remain. – Independent Heidi Allen: “The fact people are trying to pick holes shows we must be a bit of a threat” – The House Magazine …as a row escalates over election leaflet which fails to mention a second referendum… Rows have broken out across the Labour party after the release of a draft European election leaflet failed to mention a second EU referendum. Despite the fact that the referendum is official party policy, the leaflet for the South West of England stated that the Jeremy Corbyn-led party would press ahead with Brexit, making no mention of another ballot being held. It emerged today that key figures in the Labour Party, such as European Labour leader Richard Corbett and shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, had not been approached about the release. – Daily Mail Labour MPs push for referendum pledge – BBC News …while the Lib Dems launch their euro campaign with ‘Stop Brexit’ message The Liberal Democrats have launched their European election campaign with an “unambiguous” pledge to stop Brexit. Leader Sir Vince Cable accused the Conservatives and Labour of a “stitch-up” and said a “people’s vote” was the only way to end the Brexit “paralysis”. He added it was “a pity” that fellow Remain-backing party Change UK had not agreed to running a combined campaign. The UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October, after Brexit was delayed, amid continuing parliamentary deadlock. It means the UK must now hold European elections on 23 May, or leave on 1 June without a deal. – BBC News Philip Hammond remains optimistic of finding a Brexit compromise with Labour… Chancellor Philip Hammond said on Friday that he was hopeful of clinching a Brexit compromise with the Labour Party to allow the ratification of Prime Minister Theresa May’s thrice-defeated divorce deal.The United Kingdom was due to have left the EU on March 29, though May has been unable to get her divorce deal approved by parliament. It is now unclear when, how and even if Brexit will happen but the current deadline for leaving is Oct. 31. May’s government is trying to convince the Labour Party to back her deal but Labour wants to keep Britain in a customs union with the EU and has been discussing the idea of holding a confirmatory referendum on any deal they agree. – Reuters …but Theresa May abandons hopes of passing her Brexit deal before local council elections Theresa May has abandoned hopes to pass a Brexit deal before the Council Elections – amid pleas from Tory MPs for a “cease fire”. Insiders said it was now inevitable the Government would wait until AFTER May 2 to even attempt putting its Withdrawal Bill before Parliament. The Bill is the legislative springboard for leaving the EU. One senior source said the delay was down to Downing Street being “clueless” over what it can say in the legislation to win a majority in the Commons. Theresa May has so far lost three votes on her Brexit deal. But others said Tory MPs had been “begging” party chiefs to scrap any mention of Brexit before the local elections next Thursday because the issue is so toxic on the doorstep. – The Sun Tories in trouble as ‘Brexit betrayal’ sentiment overshadows elections – Sky News Disintegrating Tories need a leader who can get the Brexit Party to shut up shop – Iain Martin for Reaction The local elections will give Theresa May a taste of the brewing Brexit backlash – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) War Hero officer among Brexit Party’s new candidates A war hero, a former communist, a smoked salmon millionaire, a charity boss and an ex-NHS worker were unveiled by Nigel Farage as candidates for his Brexit Party in the upcoming European elections. James Glancy, a retired Captain in the Royal Marines awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for fighting in Afghanistan, said he was compelled to stand because he felt politicians were ‘undermining democracy’ and ‘our leadership is humiliating the British public on the international stage’. Mr Glancy, who served in the Marines’ version of the SAS, the Special Boat Service, is now an environmentalist and will bolster the party’s green credentials, as his leader has previously questioned the impact of climate change. – Daily Mail Who is standing in the EU elections? – BBC News Remain’s Facebook ‘dark money’ massively outweighs Leave spending New data published by Facebook has revealed that yet again Remain is massively outspending Leave on social media, with almost twice as much money being spent by second referendum groups. In total this puts dedicated big Remain spending at £874,018, compared to just £493,673 for Leave. – Guido Fawkes Goldman Sachs says dragged-out Brexit is doing deeper damage to UK economy Britain’s protracted divorce from the European Union is hurting the world’s fifth largest economy as dwindling company investment, signs of a looming labour market shock and poor productivity hinder growth, Goldman Sachs said. The United Kingdom was due to have left the EU on March 29, though Prime Minister Theresa May has been unable to get her divorce deal approved by parliament. Now the new deadline is Oct. 31, more than three years since the 2016 referendum. It is now unclear when, how and even if Brexit will happen. – Reuters S&P and Fitch warn UK rating still faces no-deal Brexit risk Britain’s credit rating remains at risk of a further downgrade despite the extended deadline for its departure from the European Union, ratings agencies S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings said on Friday. “The agreement between the EU and the UK to further extend the process … to 31 October 2019 reduces but does not eliminate the risk of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit over the next six months,” Fitch said. British Prime Minister Theresa May secured the extension to the Brexit deadline earlier this month after failing to bridge the divide within her own Conservative Party over the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU. The delay averted the risk of an immediate no-deal Brexit which would deliver a shock to the world’s fifth-biggest economy but the uncertainty remains, weighing on many companies which have cut back on investment. S&P said its negative outlook reflected the risk of sustained economic weakness and a hit to government finances if Britain lost access to EU markets, investors took fright or sterling’s status as a reserve currency came under pressure. – Reuters P&O sues government over Brexit payout to Eurotunnel The government’s no-deal Brexit contingency plans were thrown into further chaos today when it emerged that it was facing a second legal claim over the award of ferry contracts. P&O is taking action against the government over a £33 million payout to Eurotunnel that the ferry operator claims will put it at a competitive disadvantage. The disclosure will raise further questions over the Department for Transport’s preparations amid fears that the award of contracts was poorly executed and millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been wasted. Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, has already faced calls to resign over the affair. – The Times (£) Lord of the Rings star blasts MPs on Question Time over Brexit Hollywood star John Rhys-Davies shamed MPs last night as he accused them of ‘betraying democracy’ by failing to deliver Brexit. In an extraordinary moment on the BBC’s Question Time last night the Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings actor, 74, was given an ovation by the audience – and would later tear into those who oppose Donald Trump’s proposed state visit. In a Brexit speech, punctuated by applause, Mr Rhys-Davies, physically turned to Green MP Caroline Lucas, Labour’s Jon Ashworth and Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable to warn them: ‘You will damage Democracy if you don’t deliver Brexit’. – Daily Mail Martin Davison: Leo Rampant – how Ireland tamed Brexit The UK has been comprehensively outmanoeuvred by Ireland and the European Union over Brexit. Chaos reigns and Brexit may not even happen. If it does, the Government certainly cannot deliver its clearly stated policy for the UK’s future relationship with the EU. This outcome was determined over six critical months in 2017 by clever and ruthless exploitation of one issue: the post-1998 settlement on the island of Ireland. – Martin Davison for CapX John Longworth: Tory MPs have proven they are too spineless to save Brexit — it’s time for us to step up While cabinet collective responsibility appears to have all but disappeared from Parliamentary politics, collective irresponsibility is now the order of the day in the Conservative Parliamentary Party. The government constantly alludes to the self-styled “Spartans” of the ERG as extremists and yet it is these individuals who are trying to uphold and deliver the Conservative manifesto commitment to deliver Brexit, leave the Customs Union, the Single Market and the jurisdiction of the ECJ. It is the government who are not taking responsibility for their actions, who have set themselves against the electorate and the democratic framework which both holds our society together and gives those who govern, legitimacy. Given that the 1922 Committee, representing Conservative backbenchers, has now decided once again to take no action to remove the current leadership, they too appear to have lost the plot. – John Longworth for the Telegraph (£) Mark Wallace: Adonis encouraged his fans to hate Brexiteers – and now they hate him Mark Francois is standing in the European Elections. In a shock decision, he has put out a statement explaining that his position is now that the UK ought to Remain in the EU. Since the news broke, he has been accused by his former allies of selling out, of betraying his principles and making a mockery of all his previous campaigning. He seems taken aback by this criticism, and is protesting that actually his view is exactly what it was before. Understandably, nobody seems to buy it. It’s an implausible thing to happen, and even more ludicrous to imagine that someone performing such a switch would be surprised at the backlash. And yet, of course, it has happened – albeit in the opposite direction. Of that cringeworthy class of influential men who have been driven to an unappealing and extreme fury by Brexit – AC Grayling, Gavin Esler at al – Andrew Adonis has distinguished himself by the depths to which he has been willing to stoop. – Mark Wallace for ConservativeHome The breaking of Andrew Adonis is a revealing moment in our politics – Alex Massie for CapX Morgan Meaker: Spain’s populists are set to change the country’s politics for good For years, southern Spain has been one of the main entry points for migrants travelling to Europe from Africa or the Middle East. Yet throughout the so-called refugee crisis of 2015 – an issue that saw populist parties across the EU gain huge support – Spain proved to be one of Europe’s few exceptions.Throughout a flurry of elections – the European elections in 2014 and general elections in 2015 and 2016 – voters were instead tempted away from mainstream parties by left-wing political upstart Podemos. Unlike the far-right in the rest of Europe, Spain’s was pretty much non-existent.- Morgan Meaker for The Spectator Brexit in Brief Say what you like about Brexit, but at least it’s made Britain interesting again – Michael Fabricant MP for the Telegraph (£) Let Lyra rest in peace – Brendan O’Neill for spiked PM must say when she intends to quit — and let someone else handle Brexit – James Forsyth for The Sun Scottish nationalism’s Brexit hiatus – Politico Sturgeon keeps Indy vote option even if no Brexit – Sky News Tommy Robinson to stand in European Parliament election – BBC News Royal Bank of Scotland blames competition and Brexit uncertainty for fall in profits – The Times (£)