Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Four Brexit Party MEPs set to quit and urge voters to back the Tories today… Boris Johnson got an election boost last night when four Brexit Party MEPs quit and urged voters to back the Tories. They turned their backs on Nigel Farage amid mounting fears he will rob the PM of the majority he needs to take Britain out of the EU. Former business chief John Longworth was stripped of the party whip last night for “undermining” their leader’s strategy. But the move came too late as he to stop his plan to torpedo Mr Farage – and possibly sink his party for good. Today his gang of four will resign and declare his decision to fight the December 12 election “a huge mistake”. At a Westminster event, they will set out in the starkest terms why a vote for the Brexit Party risks ruining everything they have worked for. It will provide a spur for BoJo but a devastating blow for Mr Farage, with his party tanking in the polls and donors fleeing like “rats off a sinking ship”. – The Sun …after Brexit Party MEP John Longworth is expelled for ‘undermining’ election strategy The Brexit Party have expelled one of their MEPs for “repeatedly undermining” their general election strategy. John Longworth, a former director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, will no longer represent the Brexit Party in the European Parliament. He was elected as MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber as a Brexit Party candidate in May this year, but has now had the party’s whip withdrawn. Mr Longworth recently argued that Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage should withdraw the majority of general election candidates and concentrate on only a few seats. In an interview with The Times newspaper at the end of October, the business consultant urged the Brexit Party to be “sensible” and pursue a “targeted” election strategy concentrating on “20 or 30” seats. – Sky News Boris Johnson says everyone can stop talking about Brexit after the end of January if he wins the General Election… Boris Johnson has claimed everyone can stop talking about Brexit altogether after the end of January, as he believes the UK will be out of the EU by then. Speaking to ITV News Political Editor Robert Peston, the prime minister has assured the British public if he wins the General Election he will stop talking about the subject of Brexit come January 2020. He said: “We will have got Brexit done, and you will find, what will happen is the parliamentary agony will be over, the political agony will be over and the misery and tedium and procrastination that been going on will be over.” If the Conservative Party win a majority at the General Election, they will put their Brexit deal before Parliament once again and if it is passed, Mr Johnson has pledged the UK will be out of the EU by 31 January 2020. – ITV News …as the Conservatives vow to slash taxes in a post-Brexit Budget in February The Conservatives have promised to cut taxes for families in a post-Brexit February budget as the party set out their plan for the first 100 days of government. Boris Johnson said 2020 will be “the year we finally put behind us the arguments and uncertainty over Brexit” if the Tories get a majority at the General Election. The plan has been branded “pure fantasy” and the Prime Minister has been accused of lying to the public, with the Liberal Democrats saying that a Tory government would “remain completely consumed by Brexit not just for the next 100 days, but for years to come”. The Tories said a Conservative government would announce its legislative programme on December 19 in a new Queen’s Speech, adding that they will bring back the EU Withdrawal Act Bill before Christmas with all Conservative MPs backing the legislation. – ITV News Luxembourg’s PM says the UK must play by EU rules or accept No Deal The prime minister of Luxembourg today urged the UK to accept the rules of the EU single market or face a cliff-edge at the end of 2020. Xavier Bettel, who is in London for the NATO summit, told an academic audience that the UK must decide what it wants from its future relationship with the European Union. “We cannot accept cherry-picking. You decided to leave. I won’t accept that you destroy the single market. We have rules and you will have to accept these rules. It is not that the UK will change Europe,” he said. Bettel was speaking about how the EU should promote its interests and values on the global stage at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His visit comes four months after his British counterpart Boris Johnson was left humiliated during a chaotic official trip to Luxembourg. – Politico Brussels to push for rapid talks with UK on the future relationship after Brexit Brussels is preparing to launch negotiations about its future relationship with Britain after Brexit, with EU leaders pushing for the union to present proposals as soon as the UK leaves. The sense of urgency from EU leaders underlines the limited amount of time available for the two sides to secure a new trade deal before Britain’s post-Brexit transition period expires next December. If he wins next week’s general election, Boris Johnson has ruled out extending the transition period which keeps the UK in the EU’s customs union and single market, raising the prospect of a new “no-deal” cliff edge this time next year. – FT (£) Jo Swinson suggests allowing votes at 16 in second EU referendum as she is accused of ‘fiddling’ Brexit… Jo Swinson has suggested holding a second referendum in which 16-year-olds could vote, as she was forced to deny trying to “fiddle” Brexit to get the result she wants. In an interview with Andrew Neil, the Liberal Democrat leader apologised four times for voting for cuts during the coalition government, as well as admitting she regrets austerity itself. Mr Neil accused her of trying to “fiddle the franchise” by supporting votes at 16, and suggested Leave supporters would see the plan as a choice between not leaving the EU and a deal that was a “version of remain”. “I’ve always supported votes at 16,” Ms Swinson said. – Telegraph (£) > WATCH: Lib Dem Leader Jo Swinson discusses her Party’s Brexit policy with Andrew Neil …while she hints at backing Labour in a hung parliament if Corbyn quits Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat leader, has suggested for the first time that she could work with the Labour party to stop Brexit if it removed Jeremy Corbyn as leader in the event of a hung parliament following next week’s general election. In an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Neil, the leader of Britain’s third party repeated her pledge not to use her party’s votes to put either Mr Corbyn or Tory leader Boris Johnson in Downing Street if neither wins a majority in the House of Commons. Ms Swinson also pledged not to resign as leader if the Lib Dems lose seats in the election; the party is on just 13 per cent in the polls. – FT (£) John McDonnell confident Labour’s Brexit policy will appeal to Leave voters… Labour’s Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell believes his party will succeed in keeping Leave voters onside in the upcoming general election. At a campaign event in Birmingham Wednesday, McDonnell was challenged by journalists on whether the Labour Party is managing to prevent Brexit-backing voters from deserting to the Conservatives. He replied that Jeremy Corbyn’s party is focused on its Brexit policy, which consists of negotiating a new “credible and sensible” Withdrawal Agreement with the EU within three months of forming a new British government, and putting that deal to a referendum with Remain as the alternative option within six months. – Politico …while Economists for Free Trade warn that Labour’s spending plans would plunge Britain into a recession worse than 2008… Jeremy Corbyn’s plans for the economy would plunge Britain into a recession even worse than the 2008 crash, it has been claimed. Unemployment would rocket to well over three million, the pound would lose around a quarter of its value, inflation would jump to five per cent, and growth would evaporate as the economy became mired in a slump that could last a decade, according to new expert analysis of the Labour party manifesto. The stark prediction has been issued by Economists for Free Trade (EFT), a group of pro-Brexit experts who backed Thatcher’s successful economic reforms of the 1980s and opposed the Euro and its forerunner the Exchange Rate Mechanism. – Telegraph (£) …and former Labour minister Ivan Lewis urges voters to back the Conservatives at the election Ivan Lewis, who is Jewish, told voters in his former Bury South constituency that should support Boris Johnson to “say no to anti-semitism”. He is the third ex-Labour minister to endorse the Conservatives, following Ian Austin and Tom Harris. Mr Lewis quit the Labour Party last year accusing Jeremy Corbyn of failing to tackle anti-semitism and claiming he could “no longer reconcile my Jewish identity and current Labour politics”. He had been suspended from the party since November 2017 over allegations of sexual harassment, which he has denied. The former Foreign Office minister had been planning to stand as an independent in the seat he had represented since 1997, but said he had decided to stand aside to boost the Tories’ chances of winning it. – PoliticsHome UK could drop plans to tax tech firms in rush to secure US trade deal Boris Johnson’s plans for a multibillion-pound tax on tech companies such as Google and Facebook may be dropped in the post-Brexit rush to secure a trade deal with the US, trade experts have suggested. The prime minister said internet companies needed to make a “fairer contribution”, as he indicated on Tuesday he would push ahead with a digital sales tax, despite opposition within his cabinet and a US backlash against similar plans from the French government. There is a growing political consensus outside the US that the profit-shifting model is unsustainable. Labour included a pledge to tax large tech firms in its manifesto, while last year the Conservative party under Theresa May said it would introduce a digital services tax. – Guardian Ulster Unionists claim DUP ‘blew’ Westminster influence Pro-union voters must be offered an alternative to the politics of the Democratic Unionist Party, Ulster Unionist leader Steve Aiken has said. Mr Aiken accused his unionist rivals of having “blown” the influence they had in the last parliament when their ten MPs were involved in a confidence and supply deal to prop up the Conservative government. He said at this election his party offers an alternative, a “positive progressive pro-union voice” in the House of Commons. The Ulster Unionist Party was not represented at Westminster at the last parliament, having lost their two MPs at the 2017 General Election. – RTE UUP manifesto at a glance – BBC News SDLP leader launches manifesto called Stop Boris – Stop Brexit The SDLP leader has made a strong attack on MPs who refuse to take their seats saying “decisions are made by those who show up”. Launching his party’s manifesto, Colum Eastwood said the general election would be “potentially decisive” on Brexit. The 29-page manifesto is called “Stop Boris – Stop Brexit”. Mr Eastwood is trying to win back Foyle from Sinn Féin, which won the seat for the first time in 2017 by 169 votes. Without mentioning Sinn Féin by name, he said: “History doesn’t judge those who don’t turn up at defining moments – it casts a far harsher verdict. It simply doesn’t mention them because they make no difference. You only make a difference by being there. Decisions are made by those who show up.” – BBC News SDLP manifesto at a glance – BBC News Henrik Overgaard Nielsen: Jeremy Corbyn is too late to save the NHS: it has already been sold off under the EU Jeremy Corbyn keeps telling us that “the NHS is not for sale”. It has become his mantra for this election – the problem is that he is too late! The reality is that the NHS is already for sale, and has been for decades. EU directives and Tony Blair’s obsession with “testing the market” are to blame. The EU’s Public Procurement Directive states clearly that any public tender over a certain amount has to be open to any company with a subsidiary in the EU. The UK government and the NHS is prohibited from demanding that a provider of services has to be based in this country. Any contract for a service not delivered “in-house” has to go to tender, and this not only includes services for hospitals but also materials or pharmaceuticals used within the NHS. This also includes chemists, opticians and dentists, who are all independent contractors who choose to provide their services within the NHS. – Henrik Overgaard Nielsen MEP for the Telegraph (£) Patrick O’Flynn: Why must comedians like Nish Kumar and Jo Brand be anti-Tory and anti-Brexit to get ‘approved’ by BBC? When I was interviewed a long time ago for admission to one of our ancient universities, a don used the phrase “the maintained sector” to describe my educational background. He meant I was a state-school lad and I suppose his implication was that independent schools were somehow more free-thinking and more reliable bastions of excellence. At the time, I could only see the other side of that particular argument. But the phrase has come to mind again in a different context. The disastrous reception given to comedian Nish Kumar at the Lord’s Taverners festive lunch on Tuesday is a sign the maintained sector of British comedy has fallen victim to lazy groupthink and general mediocrity. Kumar, who was booed offstage by his mainly provincial, “small c” conservative audience — albeit at a swanky London venue — made the mistake of rolling out the usual anti-Brexit, anti-Tory observations lapped up by the live audiences of his BBC show The Mash Report. – Patrick O’Flynn for The Sun Asa Bennett: With Remainers all over the place, Brexiteers cannot afford to fall out in petty rows The Remain alliance has proved to be so ramshackle lately that Brexiteers might have struggled to believe their luck. Just after Hugh Grant lent his star power to the Liberal Democrats, he rounded on them for suggesting they are the best way to stop Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn has been desperately trying to make Labour seem more Brexit-friendly by sending out spokespeople like Ian Lavery, only to have Emily Thornberry boast about how her party is the “only” option for those who want to stop Brexit. All that is not as ridiculous as the row Jo Swinson was caught up in with men dressed as bees, which she did not leave unscathed after being branded “patronising”. Ms Swinson has tried to deal with the hot potato of a Brexit position lumped on her by Lib Dem members by shifting focus away from using a majority to revoke Article 50 in favour of arguing that the party can best act as a check on the Tories in a hung parliament and pile on pressure for a referendum. But that pitch is just a pale imitation of Labour’s. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Garvan Walshe: How the majority needed to deliver Brexit will thwart the reform needed to make a success of it If the polls are right, and the electorate indeed returns a Conservative majority in a week’s time, we can expect the Withdrawal Agreement to be passed, and the UK to leave the EU in short order. The Prime Minister has promised not to take up the option of extending the transition period provided. Let’s allow ourselves a moment of optimism, and suppose that the majority is large enough to enable him to carry what agreement he can make by the end of 2020 – thus avoiding a repetition of the paralysis caused by Parliament refusing to accept leaving without a deal while simultaneously refusing to accept any kind of deal that could be agreed by both the UK government and the EU. – Garvan Walshe for ConservativeHome Allister Heath: The hypocrisy of ‘liberal’ Remainer fanatics flocking to Corbyn is jaw-dropping Until a few weeks ago, I generally took the uber-Remainers at their word. I believed them when they told me that they objected to Brexit because they feared economic damage. I assumed they were telling the truth when they insisted with great passion that they thought the EU was a force for peace, tolerance and harmonious co-existence, and that this was a central reason for their Europhilia. Such arguments are, in my view, entirely wrong-headed, but they are certainly eminently respectable. – Allister Heath for the Telegraph (£) Pieter Cleppe: As Britain goes to the polls, the EU is preparing a brand new list of ‘Brexit Unicorns’ As Britain prepares to take to the polls next week, the European Union is gearing up towards its own negotiations on the future EU-UK relationship. If, as the polls currently suggest, Boris Johnson gains an absolute majority and Brexit happens at the end of January, these will begin right away. But what will the EU will be demanding? Statements and leaks from Brussels suggest the following. Their first demand will be that Boris Johnson breaks his promise not to extend the eleven months transition period if he wants a proper trade deal. As one EU diplomat put it, “the choice is either no deal Brexit 2.0 or to extend the transition period.” Another senior EU diplomat added that “not in my wildest dreams would I imagine” the possibility of the EU agreeing a zero-tariff, zero-quota deal by 2020, which would permit divergence from EU rules on workers’ rights and environmental protections. – Pieter Cleppe for the Telegraph (£) The Sun: Anything but a Conservative majority will see power handed to extremist madman Jeremy Corbyn A week today we can elect a Government that in its first 100 days will finally get Brexit done and start improving lives in a way Theresa May’s never did. A Boris Johnson majority will pass his ready-made exit deal. Then it will unveil a tax-cutting Budget containing major new funding for the NHS and schools alongside tough new laws to tackle crime and terrorism, protect our Forces and control immigration. A sound plan that secures our standing on the world stage and protects our economy while offering radical improvements for “left-behind” communities. Consider the alternative: A Marxist-run coalition with Corbyn in No10, an anti-capitalist Chancellor in No11 and a homeless family at Chequers, as per Corbyn’s virtue-signalling instructions. – The Sun says Spectator: This is the most important election in modern history – it’s time to take sides Corbyn offers a new referendum on Brexit. It is easy to snigger at his declaration that he would be neutral during this campaign. But his pledge to be an ‘honest broker’ conceals the deceit that his referendum represents. Voters wouldn’t be asked to choose between the current Brexit deal and Remain, but between Remain and a new deal, yet to be negotiated, which would almost certainly be Remain in all but name. It would be a mockery of a choice and would ensure that the second referendum would inflict even more damage on our democratic fabric than the first. Additionally, after being promised a ‘once in a generation’ referendum in 2014, Scots would likely be subjected to another independence campaign — as the price for the SNP propping up a minority Labour government… The stakes are as high as in any election in living memory. Never in our country’s modern history has it been more important to vote — and vote Conservative. – Spectator (£) editorial Brexit in Brief Brexit-deranged comedians are now Britain’s biggest bores – Madeline Grant for the Telegraph (£) EU expert makes brilliant point about Leave-voting Wales: ‘Why would they be grateful?’ – Express Jeremy Hunt slams Corbyn’s NHS warnings as ‘election nonsense’ – Express The 55 marginal seats where Corbyn’s Brexit muddle leaves Labour vulnerable – Telegraph (£) Pound hits two-year euro high – Telegraph (£)