Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Anger as Jeremy Corbyn faces down calls for Labour to back a new Brexit vote come what may… Jeremy Corbyn has faced down a challenge spearheaded by his deputy, Tom Watson, for Labour to signal its unequivocal backing for a second Brexit referendum in the forthcoming European election campaign. In a move that sparked an immediate backlash among remain-supporters, Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC), announced that its manifesto for the election would be “fully in line” with its longstanding policy. That means continuing to support “Labour’s alternative plan” for Brexit – “and if we can’t get the necessary changes to the government’s deal, or a general election, to back the option of a public vote”, a Labour source said. The wording falls well short of the position set out recently by Watson, and by the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, who told the House of Commons in April: “At this late stage it is clear that any Brexit deal agreed in this parliament will need further democratic approval.” Some Labour MPs reacted with fury to the NEC’s decision. Bridget Phillipson, who represents Houghton & Sunderland South, speaking for the People’s Vote campaign, said: “The manifesto’s mealy-mouthed wording still maintains the fiction that there is a deal out there that can satisfy all the promises made three years ago, avoid real costs to jobs and living standards, or end the endless crisis around Brexit. – Guardian …although the party will support a second referendum in certain circumstances Labour’s governing body has agreed to support a further referendum on Brexit under certain circumstances. The party will demand a public vote if it cannot get changes to the government’s deal or an election. The National Executive Committee rejected campaigning for a referendum under all circumstances – as supported by deputy leader Tom Watson. The party said Labour was “the only party which represents both people who supported Leave and Remain”. The National Executive Committee (NEC) oversees the overall direction of the party and is made up of representatives including shadow cabinet members, MPs, councillors and trade unions. It was split on the issue of how Labour’s European election candidates should approach the issue of another Brexit referendum. The UK will have to take part in European Parliamentary elections on 23 May unless a Brexit deal is accepted by MPs before then. – BBC News Attempt to get Labour to commit to second referendum shot down at party meeting – Independent Labour hold mammoth Brexit talks – before approving exact same policy – Express Victory for Jeremy Corbyn as Labour NEC agrees referendum fudge for European manifesto – PoliticsHome Labour manifesto restates position on another referendum – Sky News Tom Watson stages ‘polite’ shadow cabinet walkout over Labour’s EU election manifesto – Guardian Theresa May blocks Cabinet demands to speed up the deadlocked Brexit process Theresa May blocked cabinet demands to speed up the stalled Brexit process this week, HuffPost UK has learned. Brexiteer ministers had expected the withdrawal agreement bill (WAB) to be brought before the Commons, but were overruled by Downing Street. The prime minister is concerned that MPs could simply vote down the laws at the first attempt, potentially triggering a general election. She is willing to give talks with Labour another week to reach either a cross-party deal or agreement on backing whatever solution comes out of a fresh round of parliamentary votes on alternatives. But Brexiteers are desperate to avoid European elections on May 23 and are concerned the WAB would take up to 10 weeks to pass through the Commons and Lords, and that Jeremy Corbyn has no incentive to strike a deal. The so-called ‘pizza club’ of cabinet Leavers, who hold regular strategy meetings over takeaway slices, have discussed an alternative way of breaking the impasse, by splitting up the withdrawal agreement into different pieces of legislation. Senior figures say backbenchers have signalled they could switch to backing May’s deal if the controversial Irish backstop was removed. – Huffington Post Brexit Cabinet ministers furious as Theresa May blocks Parliament vote to help UK leave EU – Express Eurosceptics fear May is preparing to cave in to Labour demands on Brexit… Theresa May is preparing to cave in to Labour demands on Brexit, Eurosceptic ministers fear, after they were told an “unpalatable” outcome would be better than a “disastrous” one. The Prime Minister has made it clear that she wants cross-party talks wrapped up by the middle of next week, adding to suspicions that she is waiting until after tomorrow’s local elections before announcing a climbdown. A Cabinet meeting yesterday was dominated by discussion of how the Government can get a Brexit deal through Parliament so that Britain can leave the EU before the current deadline of October. Brexiteers still believe Mrs May can win round Tory rebels by making changes to the Northern Irish backstop, but the Prime Minister appears increasingly convinced that support from Labour is the only way to get the stable majority she needs for a divorce deal and the trade talks to come. Downing Street sources insisted last night that the Government remains opposed to joining a customs union with the EU after Brexit – Labour’s number one demand – but Leave supporters fear Mrs May will agree with Labour a form of customs union in all but name. – Telegraph (£) Fears Theresa May will bow to Labour and back permanent customs union with EU – Daily Mail …as she slaps a seven-day deadline on the cross-party Brexit talks… Theresa May slapped a seven-day deadline on talks with Labour for a Brexit deal as a fresh row broke out between Tory and Labour chiefs. The PM told her Cabinet that she will draw stumps on the five week-long talks with Jeremy Corbyn by next Wednesday whether there in a cross party agreement or not. The new time limit came as fresh hopes for progress were dashed when John McDonnell lashed out at Jeremy Hunt. The Foreign Secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme “I very much hope we don’t” sign up to a customs union – a Labour red line demand. Tory leadership hopeful Mr Hunt also warned about the move: “There is a risk you would lose more Conservative MPs than you could gain Labour MPs”. But the Shadow Chancellor leaped on his remarks to brand them “hardly a helpful or constructive intervention”. Labour’s economy boss tweeted: “It does not inspire confidence that if a deal is agreed it would be successfully entrenched and last any longer than the next Tory leadership election”. The PM and her senior ministers resolved yesterday to press on with trying to pass the landmark Withdrawal Agreement Bill through the Commons next month. After yesterday morning’s Cabinet meeting, a No10 source said: “By the middle of next week we’ll know one way or another which way this is going. “This was communicated to Cabinet and Cabinet was agreed on this need for talks to come to a head.” The PM’s official spokesman added: “Further talks will now be scheduled in order to bring the process toward a conclusion. “The public do want to see forward movement. We want to get on with this, everybody wants to get on with it.” – The Sun May Seeks to End Brexit Talks With Labour Next Week – Bloomberg …which are reportedly now moving on to ‘nuts and bolts’… Cross-party talks to break the Brexit deadlock have moved on to the “nuts and bolts” after the latest “positive” set of meetings. Sue Hayman, Labour’s shadow environment secretary, emerged from the Cabinet Office on Monday to declare the day’s negotiations with senior government ministers as “very constructive”. There is still “a lot more to discuss”, she added, but suggested the government had shown willingness to drop some of its red lines. “We’ve had a problem – the government hasn’t been prepared to move, but now we’re exploring how the government can move,” Ms Hayman said, flanked by a contingent of other top Labour MPs. “I believe the government is open to moving forward in our direction.” David Lidington, the de facto deputy prime minister, praised the “productive” meeting. – Sky News …while Jeremy Hunt warns against Labour’s customs union plan Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned Theresa May against agreeing a Brexit deal with Labour that involves a customs union with the EU. Mr Hunt suggested that such an agreement would result in even fewer Tory MPs backing a deal in Parliament. But Jeremy Corbyn insists his support is contingent on ministers accepting the need for a customs union. Supporters say it would be better for businesses, but opponents feel it stops the UK setting its own trade policy. Talks between Labour and the government have been taking place for a number of weeks after Mrs May’s Brexit deal with the EU was effectively rejected for a third time by MPs. Downing Street says further talks are being scheduled “in order to bring the process toward a conclusion” – and according to BBC Newsnight‘s political editor Nicholas Watt, a sense of urgency is growing. Labour has previously complained that the government appeared unwilling to move on the possibility of a customs union. – BBC News > Simon Clarke on BrexitCentral today: Labour’s demand for an EU customs union risks killing the dream of Free Ports in struggling coastal communities May faces fresh challenge as Conservative activists force leadership vote… Theresa May will face a fresh challenge to her leadership after Conservative Party activists forced an emergency vote on her future. The prime minister was informed by a top Tory official on Monday that enough of the party’s local constituency chairmen have now signed a petition to demanda vote on her leadership. Such a vote would be the first time in the Tories’ 185-year history that the party’s grassroots have used an emergency general meeting of the National Conservative Convention to discuss a leader’s position. The move has been prompted by local Tory anger at Mrs May’s handling of Brexit, which she has now delayed for a second time while she continues to engage in cross-party talks on a withdrawal deal with Labour. – Sky News Theresa May becomes first Tory leader in 185 years to face emergency grassroots vote demanding her resignation – The Sun May facing challenge from grassroots Tories over Brexit – Bloomberg Theresa May faces Tory leadership challenge amid Brexit anger, party activists warn – Independent …and her allies accept her premiership is drawing to a close Theresa May’s allies have conceded that her tenure as UK prime minister is drawing to a close, acknowledging that the next Queen’s Speech outlining the government’s legislative agenda is likely to be prepared by a new Conservative leader. Downing Street officials have said the next address will only take place after parliament has passed the prime minister’s deal with Brussels to take Britain out of the EU. As Mrs May has pledged to quit if MPs back the deal, her allies admitted to the Financial Times it was unlikely she would direct another programme for government. She has failed three times to get her withdrawal agreement bill through the House of Commons, forcing her to accede to a six-month extension to Brexit until late October. This means the Queen’s Speech, which was expected this spring, will almost certainly be postponed. In June 2017, the last Queen’s Speech set out 27 bills, of which eight were dedicated entirely to measures around the UK leaving the EU. There are also concerns Mrs May would not have the numbers in parliament to pass a fresh legislative agenda, given Tory Eurosceptic fury at the Brexit delay and the opposition to her deal from the Democratic Unionist party, whose votes give Mrs May her parliamentary majority. “What we are focused on is the withdrawal agreement bill, because that is the legislation which is necessary in order to ratify our withdrawal from the EU,” Mrs May’s spokesman said. “That is part of the current Queen’s Speech cycle and we need to finish that work.” – FT(£) Conservatives trail Brexit party and Labour with 13 per cent in European election poll… A new poll has put the Conservatives behind Labour, the Brexit party and Change UK as voters prepare for the European elections almost three years since 2016’s vote to quit the EU. Theresa May’s party is on track to win just 11 per cent of the vote in London, well behind Labour’s 28 per cent, and even trailing Change UK – The Independent Group’s 17 per cent, according to the latest Yougov poll. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party fare surprisingly well in the remain heartlands of the capital, with 19 per cent putting them in second place among Londoners. The national situation is no better for the Tories, with just 13 per cent of voters planning to back the party’s MEPs, putting them in third place behind the Brexit party’s 28 per cent, and Labour’s 22 per cent. – City A.M. …while Farage could win a majority of Conservative voters, as less than a third think Tories are pro-Brexit Less than a third of Conservative voters see the party as being pro-Brexit, according to new polling ahead of the local and European elections next month. Just 29 per cent of those who voted for Theresa May’s party in 2017 feel the Conservatives are pro-Brexit with 31 per cent seeing them as anti-Brexit, according to polling from YouGov conducted at the end of April. These figures will strike fear into the hearts of Tory strategists with the party looking likely to face two damaging elections in the space of four weeks in May. Local council elections will take place this week with the Tories braced to lose up to a fifth of their councillors, while Nigel Farage’s newly minted Brexit Party look set to win the European Parliament elections on 23 May. A separate poll – also from YouGov – shows that more than half of those who voted Conservative in the 2017 general election intend to vote for Mr Farage’s new party in the European elections with just 13 per cent of Leave voters backing Mrs May’s party. – Telegraph (£) Philip Hammond promises UK fintech sector will attract global talent after Brexit The chancellor Philip Hammond has reassured business leaders that the UK’s fintech sector will still have access to talent from across the world after Brexit. Hammond called on the UK to strengthen its dominance of the European fintech industry and warned against complacency. It comes as London looks set to catch world leader San Francisco in terms of the number of fintech unicorns it houses. Speaking at the Innovate Finance global summit in the City, the chancellor also announced a new digital marketplace – FinTech Alliance – to provide access to firms, investors, regulatory updates and connect employers with employees. He attempted to reassure business leaders that the fintech sector will still have access to the necessary skills and talent after Brexit. He said: “Even as free movement ends, Britain will remain open to talent from around the world.” – City A.M. Change UK reaches out to anti-Brexit Labour supporters Change UK has called on Labour supporters to “lend us your vote” in order to put pressure on the Labour leadership to fully support a second Brexit referendum. At an event in Westminster on Tuesday, which the party said was the first in a series around the country, the former Labour MP Chuka Umunna said that even if Labour did back a new referendum, it would only do so under a “whole list of terms and conditions”. “My message to Londoners who voted Labour, and indeed to Labour members, is if you want to change the Labour party’s position on Brexit, don’t endorse that prevarication,” said Umunna, the party spokesman for Change UK, which is also known as the Independent Group. “If you haven’t made up your mind what to do at the next general election, lend us your vote in these European elections. Because the better we do, the more likely you are to see the Labour leadership adopt a people’s vote and remain position.” However, Mike Gapes – another one of the eight ex-Labour MPs who, along with three Conservatives, defected to set up the party – told the crowd of about 100 activists that Jeremy Corbyn was committed to supporting Brexit. – Guardian Change UK urges pro-EU Labour members to ‘lend’ support for referendum push – Independent English Democrats pursue legal case that the UK has already legally left the EU Brexit has already begun, according to a pro-Brexit nationalist party, and a former appeal court judge has backed the claim. So is this correct? The English Democrats, a small political party, was founded in 2002 and has been led by Robin Tilbrook since its inception. Mr Tilbrook has launched a High Court battled to challenge the legality of the Brexit extension. He believes the decision to extend Article 50 was illegal, and is calling for a legal declaration stating the UK left the EU on March 29, as originally planned. In a statement alongside the call for donations to aid the cost of legal assistance, the English Democrats said: “This is our only chance to complete what we voted for in the EU Referendum! “Forget the noisy demos and justified anger this is the on;ly way we can hope to have our democratic mandate honoured….in law!” The claim has been met with some support, most recently in the form of Sir Richard Aikens, who sat in the Court of Appeal from 2008 until 2015. He told the Daily Mail the extension was “highly unsatisfactory” and “arguably illegal”, the truth of which “can only be determined by a court”. – Express Tomorrow’s local elections will be a crucial test for the Tories and Labour after bruising Brexit battles Voters go to the polls across England and Northern Ireland this Thursday in what will be a crucial test for the main parties after months of some bruising Brexit battles. Local elections are taking place in 248 councils in England, and 11 local authority areas in Northern Ireland in the first big test for Labour and the Conservatives since the 2017 general election. In England the Conservatives are defending almost 5,000 seats, and Labour more than 2,000. Northern Ireland will elect 462 councillors. Prime Minister Theresa May is braced for a bruising set of results, with one respected analyst predicting that more than 800 Tory councillors will lose their seats. For some areas it is the first local elections for four or five years. – ITV News Stewart Jackson: This craven Cabinet must move now to stop the Brexit betrayal, or face career oblivion What exactly is the point of this Cabinet? Getting into bed with a Marxist catastrophist like Jeremy Corbyn? Presiding over the abandonment of Ministerial collective responsibility? Repudiating solemn manifesto pledges? Ignoring the defeat – thrice – of your flagship political project in the Commons? Reducing Her Majesty’s Government – a Conservative Government no less – into a virtue signalling Blair tribute act bereft of ideas, principles or basic competence? Or is it making making pointlessly timid attempts at making a stand against the PM, in an unconvincing attempt to look like you are doing something? Jeremy Hunt’s latest comments raise questions about the latter. The Foreign Secretary said yesterday that he believes a Corbyn-May pact (a Molotov-Ribbentrop pact de nos jours) , will alienate even more Conservative MPs and precipitate further Tory infighting, rather than leading to a “rose garden moment”.Hardly news is it? On a par with “Pope has a balcony”. Last week the Government trumpeted the provision of free sanitary towels for women prisoners. Although this may well be a worthy cause, it smacks of displacement activity at a time when the country is falling apart. Don’t these senior Ministers know that for every second, minute, hour and day that they fail to despatch Theresa May into richly deserved retirement, the more harshly they will be judged by the party’s membership. Let alone the rest of the country. Stewart Jackson for the Telegraph (£) David Paton: Why I’m resigning my 30-year Labour membership to support the Brexit Party I’ve been a Labour Party member for more than 30 years but last week, I sent in my letter of resignation. In some ways, resigning was a difficult decision. But it has been increasingly clear that the UK stands at a crossroads in which we all face a new choice. It is no longer about left vs right, or Labour vs Tories – it’s not even about Remain vs Leave. British politics in 2019 is about whether or not we want to stand up for democracy itself. MPs in both the main parties have made it clear that they are prepared to overturn the clear mandate of the people that the UK should leave the EU. On the one hand we have Tory MPs who have supported Theresa May’s humiliating withdrawal agreement and, when that failed, acceded to her insistence that Brexit be “delayed” rather than allow us to leave without a formal deal. – David Paton for iNews Isabel Hardman: The Government wants Brexit talks to end next week. But can they end well? Will the cross-party Brexit talks ever end? They seem to have been going on for almost as long as the negotiations to get Britain out of the European Union, and with a similar lack of anything for either side to boast about. Yesterday, David Lidington said he was ‘encouraged by the sense in the room today about the need to inject greater urgency into this’, which was read by some as a sign that a breakthrough might be imminent. This seems a rather hopeful reading of what is essentially an admission that everyone has been faffing around a lot, but members of the Labour negotiating team also believe the government might shift on some of its red lines. The question is whether a conclusion will involve an agreement between the two parties on some kind of Brexit deal that would get through Parliament. There is a suspicion among both Tory and Labour MPs that the talks are a charade merely giving the pretence that both sides are acting seriously, without ever really wanting to compromise on matters that would split their parties internally. – Isabel Hardman for The Spectator Telegraph: Tom Watson’s walkout exposes Labour’s great Brexit divide Did he “storm out” or politely make his excuses and leave? Whatever the spin placed on Tom Watson’s departure from a meeting of the shadow cabinet it demonstrates that while the current focus is on Conservative Brexit divisions, Labour is every bit as split over how to deliver on the 2016 referendum. Mr Watson, the party deputy leader, is a supporter of a so-called “people’s vote” and is increasingly frustrated by the refusal of Jeremy Corbyn to commit to one. He has established a party within a party of Blairites and Labour moderates to counter the influence of the hard-Left. Since he was elected by the members to his post, Mr Watson has a mandate trumped only by the leader. They are now in a struggle for the party’s soul that could see one or other, or both, brought down. Mr Watson walked out of the shadow cabinet meeting after demanding to see the text of the party’s draft manifesto for the European parliamentary elections on May 23 ahead of the meeting of the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) to agree a policy. While the deputy leader and senior shadow ministers like Sir Keir Starmer want a full-throated commitment to a confirmatory referendum, the official policy remains ambivalent. It only commits to a vote to avoid “a damaging Conservative Brexit or no-deal departure”, which amounts to the usual meaningless waffle that has characterised Labour’s Brexit policy all along as the party seeks to exploit the disarray in Government ranks. – Telegraph (£) editorial Christian May: Brexit offers a chance for bold, liberalising immigration reform – but Brexit paralysis prevents the government from grasping the chance Given how much the government is struggling to actually leave the European Union it should come as no surprise that it also struggles with key areas of policy that Brexit brings to the front and centre of the stage. Immigration policy is one prominent example and an area where the government still lurches from one idea to another. News this week that EU students could be required to pay substantially higher UK university fees sparked alarm among politicians and universities. EU nationals currently pay the same level of tuition fees as UK students, but the education secretary Damian Hinds has floated the idea of ending financial support for EU citizens from 2021. Chancellor Philip Hammond and business secretary Greg Clark are understood to be bitterly opposed, and yesterday education minister Chris Skidmore attempted to row back, telling MPs that no decision has yet been taken. He went on to lament the “deeply regrettable” leak to Buzzfeed news, which first reported the proposal. At first glance, putting up financial barriers to limit the number of EU nationals who come to study in our universities seems like a needlessly provocative and damaging idea that would almost certainly trigger a tit-for-tat impact on UK students seeking to study in the EU. However, since Brexit (if it happens) will offer a reset button on established policies – including the current “home fees status” afforded to EU students – it is worth considering alternative approaches. Jacob Rees-Mogg has proposed diverting some of the taxpayer subsidy to non-EU citizens from developing countries. He asks, why subsidise the relatively wealthier European undergraduates at the expense of bright Indian or Nigerian applicants? Seeking equal treatment for immigrants regardless of where they come from was a key argument made by some (though not all) Brexiteers. – Christian May for City A.M. Tom Peck: Labour’s Brexit policy is as deliberately clear as the rules of Mornington Crescent There are, potentially, reasons that Leon Trotsky came up with a thing called “entryism”, and chose to leave “exitism” uninvented, at least until now. Entryism is the kind of thing that can allow a curious cabal of hard-left weirdos to transform one of Britain’s two major political parties into a Jew-hating troll farm with personality cult attached, and still look like winning the next general election. Exitism, on the other hand, would appear to be the kind of thing that can lead a curious cabal of ex Tory and ex Labour MPs, and a handful of medium fish from the small Remain Twitter pond to set up an explicitly pro-Remain political party with two names and a redacted zebra crossing for a logo, and still somehow end up less popular in pro-Remain London than Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party. That is the current fortune of Change UK – The Independent Group, whose unlikely black branding, and all it’s unfortunate associations with the far right, can now be found on the far right of all sorts of polling charts, far to the far right not just of the Brexit Party but absolutely everyone bar the Lib Dems. Yes the early signs are that Change UK – The Independent Group’s various dramatic exits from their various political parties appear to have more than a touch of the Jerry Maguires about them. Who’s with them? Well, no one, really. But that’s surely nothing that a decent rally can’t sort out, and that is what drew upwards of eighty people to a small pre-booked hotel conference suite in central London. – Tom Peck for the Independent Claire Fox: David Lammy inspired me to stand for the Brexit Party I am standing as Brexit Party candidate in the forthcoming EU elections. The response of voters so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Phew. Here’s a chance to demonstrate that the shambles that parliament has made of delivering on a referendum mandate will be challenged by a democratic fightback. It really is exciting. But, I admit, deciding to stand was rather more nerve wracking, and sent shockwaves among my peers. It was Tottenham Labour MP David Lammy who finally pushed me over the edge. I watched incredulous when Andrew Marr asked him if his previous comparison of the ERG to the racist rulers of Apartheid South Africa and to the Nazis had been over the top. Instead of mediating his remarks, he pushed back, saying his comparison was ‘not strong enough’. With shrill bombasity, he thundered, ‘I’m not backing off on this’, arguing that MPs who back a hard Brexit (aka Brexit, no ifs or buts) are promoting ‘extreme hard-right fascism’. What made me incandescent was that this hyperbolic slur, by inference, branded millions of Brexit voters as supporting the most heinous kind of racist bigotry. More broadly, I have watched in horror as so many of my peers on the left, swept up by increasingly hardcore Remainia, have spit out a particularly poisonous narrative that Brexit itself is a toxic, hard-right phenomenon. Labour and Corbynite cheerleaders may have no qualms in deploying such scaremongering smears to delegitimise their own voters, writing them off as beyond the pale. But I just couldn’t let ordinary voters believe that everyone on the left would betray the Bennite tradition of labour movement Euroscepticism by leading such a vile hate campaign. I would need to step up and argue against such a toxic agenda. – Claire Fox for The Spectator Brexit in Brief Corbyn’s great gamble on a second referendum could destroy his one shot at power – Richard Johnson for the Telegraph (£) Don’t be swayed by the outrage. Treating EU students like other non-British students makes sense – Nick Hillman for ConservativeHome What is really behind Tom Watson’s scheming obsession with a Second Referendum? – Tom Harris for the Telegraph (£) ChUK losing to Brexit Party in London – Guido Fawkes Farage savages Labour EU election rivals – ‘Do you really want them representing you?’ – Express