Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Michael Gove promises Brexit trade deal with the EU by the end of 2020… Michael Gove has categorically promised the UK will have a trade deal with the EU by the end of next year, despite deep reservations in Brussels about whether this is possible. The senior minister became the first in Boris Johnson’s cabinet to repeat that pledge after the election, saying transitional arrangements would definitely stop at the end of December 2020. He said discussions on the UK’s future relationship with the EU “will be concluded next year”. Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, he said: “Quite a lot of the details that we need to negotiate is already laid out in the political declaration, so a lot of work has been done.“ And as a number of people have pointed out, there are areas where the European Union’s interests and the United Kingdom’s interests are already closely aligned, so I’m confident that we will be able not just to leave the EU on 31 January but also to conclude all the details of a new relationship in short order.” – Guardian > WATCH: Cabinet Minister Michael Gove discuses Brexit and future trade talks with Sophy Ridge …but the EU insists ‘You can’t push us into agreeing your terms’… The government’s plan is for Britain to leave the EU 47 days from today after the Commons and European parliament ratify the withdrawal agreement in the coming weeks. A reshuffled cabinet will then agree a British negotiating mandate in February with the aim of immediately beginning talks with the EU, whose team will again be led by Michel Barnier, the French former European commissioner. At that stage Britain will be in a transitional period, involving continued membership of the single market and customs union, which is due to end on December 31 next year unless it is extended until the end of 2021 or 2022. A senior government figure told The Sunday Times that the prime minister would reject Brussels’ demands that Britain align itself with European rules on competition, the environment and workplace rights in return for tariff-free access to the single market as the price of a trade deal. “If Johnson will not move on alignment then there will not be a zero-tariff, zero-quota deal and certainly no chance of one being agreed in double quick time,” a senior EU diplomatic source said. “We are not going to open up our single market to a big competitor who undercuts European economies on regulations. In the age of Donald Trump and the rise of China it would mean cutting our own throat.” – The Times (£) …although an EU insider suggest they will crack under pressure as Brussels ‘cannot afford to be stubborn’ A leading Brussels insider has revealed the EU cannot afford to be stubborn during the Brexit trade talks with Boris Johnson, amid an impending economic crisis in the eurozone. The EU is thought to be preparing to take a hardline approach with Boris Johnson when trade talks begin following Britain’s departure from the bloc in January. However, a leading Brussels insider has revealed the EU cannot actually “afford to be stubborn or refuse to compromise” on a trade deal with the UK. EU expert Thomas Kielenger, who formerly reported for Die Welt, told the BBC that Brussels needed a trade deal more than the UK did. Kielenger said there was fear among EU leaders about the ongoing slump in the European economy, which has been hit by the US-China trade war and Brexit uncertainty. There is also a panic in Brussels that Britain’s departure, which is expected to leave a whopping £70bn hole in the EU budget, could torpedo the bloc’s future. He said: “Europe has to do its best to continue a workable relationship with the UK so as to not lose it a second time. The EU can’t afford to leave the UK by being stubborn and hard-nosed.” – Express Boris Johnson to welcome his new MPs to Westminster today Prime Minister Boris Johnson will address his new intake of Conservative MPs later as they arrive in Westminster to take their seats in Parliament. Many of the 109 new MPs won in areas traditionally held by Labour in Thursday’s election, which saw the Conservatives gain an 80-seat majority. Their first job will be to vote on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill that the PM intends to bring back before Christmas. Mr Johnson is also expected to carry out a mini cabinet reshuffle. He needs to fill posts made vacant by those who stood down ahead of the general election, including the culture and Welsh secretary posts. The Queen will formally open Parliament on Thursday when she sets out the government’s legislative programme. It is thought the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) on leaving the EU could be put before MPs as early as Friday. Ahead of Mr Johnson’s private speech to the new MPs, a Number 10 source said: “The PM has been very clear that we have a responsibility to deliver a better future for our country and that we must repay the public’s trust by getting Brexit done. “That’s why the first piece of legislation new MPs will vote on will be the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.” With the large majority, the bill is expected to pass through Parliament in time to meet Boris Johnson’s promise for the UK to leave the EU on 31 January. – BBC News Nigel Farage accused of splitting the Leave vote as Tories claim they could have won a 100-seat majority without him Nigel Farage has been accused of blocking some Tory Brexiteers from becoming MPs after unsuccessfully standing candidates in seats the Conservatives might otherwise have won. Several Tory candidates who lost out to Labour MPs claimed that the Brexit Party had drawn vital pro-Leave votes away from them. In the most prominent case, Richard Tice, the Brexit Party chairman, came third in Hartlepool after attracting a quarter of votes cast. In 39 seats, the Tory and Brexit Party vote combined was higher than the winning party, prompting speculation that the Conservatives could have won a triple-digit majority if Mr Farage had not run against them. Last night a Brexit Party spokesman hit back against suggestions the party had cannibalised the Conservative vote. “They’re trying to pretend that they’re the only people in the world and that they own Brexit,” the spokesman said. “Who do they think got rid of Mrs May? It wasn’t that cowardly bunch of no-hopers. It is very dangerous this sort of thinking. They’ve got a big majority.” During the election campaign, Mr Farage insisted his presence was more likely to damage Labour than the Tories, and pointed to his decision not to stand against Tory incumbents as evidence he supported Mr Johnson in winning a majority. He pitched the Brexit Party as a tempering influence on a Conservative majority government, arguing that it would hold Mr Johnson to a Canada plus-style trade deal. But Christopher Howarth, the Tory candidate in Houghton and Sunderland South, claimed he lost the election because the Brexit Party stood against him. “It was always clear that there was a massive anti-Labour vote that wanted to vote for the best option to [oust] them,” he told The Sunday Telegraph. “I had ex-union officials and ex-miners supporting me. If their big intervention was to stop pro leave Tory candidates from becoming MPs and leaving voters with pro-Remain MPs in strongly pro leave areas then they should pack up.” – Telegraph (£) Richard Burgon admits Labour’s ‘biggest mistake’ during the election was underestimating Leave voters’ desire to quit the EU… Richard Burgon revealed the Labour Party’s biggest mistake in the general election during a savage grilling from Sky News’ Sophy Ridge. The Labour MP said his party’s biggest mistake was “underestimating the desire for people who voted Leave to leave the European Union”. The Labour Party only secured 202 seats in the general election, a staggering 163 less than the Conservative Party. “If you have to look at it with humility and you need to analysis, what do you think was the biggest mistake that the Labour Party made? “Not external forces, not the media, not Brexit, what was your biggest mistake?” Mr Burgon replied: “I think we do need further time to analyse that because we lost votes in different areas. “In different areas we lost votes to different parties. But I think the biggest mistake the Labour Party made was perhaps underestimating the desire for people who voted Leave to leave the European Union.” The Sky News host then asked: “Do you still think a second referendum was the right policy?” Mr Burgon replied: “I think it was right to try and bring people together.” – Express > WATCH: Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon reflects on the general election with Sophy Ridge …while a row erupts as ex-Labour MP Caroline Flint says Emily Thornberry called heartlands Brexit-voters ‘stupid’ Emily Thornberry called Brexit-supporting traditional Labour voters in the northern parts of the country “stupid” for switching to the Conservatives in the last general election, Caroline Flint has claimed. The former Labour minister, who lost her Brexit-backing Don Valley seat to the Tories, told Sky News that Remainers on the Labour frontbench were to blame for their party’s disastrous election result. Ms Flint, a staunch Brexiteer, claimed that shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has called voters in Labour northern heartlands “stupid” for voting Conservative in the latest election. She said: “We shouldn’t take it for granted that a change in leader is going to win us in five years time if that’s when the election is called. “But I don’t believe there’s any credibility for these people. Keir Starmer led us to a policy that did not listen to Labour Leave voices who urged caution. He led us down the path of a second referendum. “And I’m afraid Emily Thornberry did as well. She said to one of my colleagues ‘I’m glad my constituents aren’t as stupid as yours’. I’m sorry, that’s not acceptable. Therefore we’re going to have to really look at what might make a candidate for leader who could steer us to a better place over the next few years. We shouldn’t for one moment think that a change in leader is going to create an election victory for us. It’s about Brexit but it’s wider than that. The policy platform that we had was offering everything to everybody. Whilst many of those policies are popular, there’s an underlying scepticism among my voters whether actually Labour could deliver.” – Express > WATCH: Former Labour MP Caroline Flint reflects on the general election with Sophy Ridge Ousted Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson could come back to Parliament — as a Baroness Ousted Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson could come back to parliament as a Baroness. New co-leader Sir Ed Davey hinted she would be back in parliament if Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces a Dissolution Honours list, which would mean the Lib Dems would get a certain number of peerages to offer. Sir Davey hinted on a place in the House of Lords for Swinson, saying: “I want her back in Parliament as soon as possible. She has so much to offer British politics.” Appearing on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, on Sky News, Sir Davey was asked if he felt sorry for his former boss. He replied: “Absolutely, the whole party is deeply upset and disappointed. Jo was a friend and a colleague and I want her back in Parliament as soon as possible. She has so much to offer British politics and our thoughts are with her and her family but we know that she has a bright future. “We thank her for what she did and I hope that we can ensure that what she argued for and her legacy on the Brexit issue can continue because Liberal Democrats will continue to oppose Brexit in Parliament.” – The Sun > WATCH: Lib Dem acting Leader Sir Ed Davey reflects on the general election with Sophy Ridge John Redwood: Parliament can deliver on people’s wishes – let’s take back control Now Parliament can deliver the people’s wishes. A majority government that believes in the UK can set about restoring our right to self-government and strengthening our democracy. It is high time to take back control of our laws, our money and our borders in the way the majority wanted in the referendum. Boris will lead a confident, optimistic nation to greater success. The General Election saw the majority pass judgment on the arrogant last Parliament which deliberately thwarted the wishes of the people to leave the EU. Now we can complete Brexit. Far from undermining our influence in the world and isolating us, the new Government will find new friends alongside old allies and will carry more weight in international negotiations. We will be able to pursue our own trade deals as independent World Trade Organisation members. We can argue for our own approach to the global green agenda, and we will continue to be a lynchpin of the Nato alliance. We can make many things better freed from EU laws. – Sir John Redwood MP for the Express Daniel Hannan: EU politicians will be much more likely to give concessions to the UK now Boris Johnson has a majority What a difference an election victory makes. Suddenly, everyone is rushing to be Boris’s friend. Those Conservatives who spent years fulminating against him are now praising him to the skies (yes, you, Alan Duncan). Labour-supporting BBC types who had written him off are coming to grips with the scale of his victory. Nigel Farage – who spent the election campaign laying into Boris’s EU deal, and whose candidates cost the Tories at least a dozen seats – is now preposterously trying to claim credit for the Conservatives’ success. In Brussels, too, there is a very different mood. Charles Michel, who heads the European Council, looks forward to concluding a deal with the PM ‘as soon as possible’. Leo Varadkar, the Irish leader, says: ‘I think the prospect is there to develop a new future economic partnership between the EU and the UK, one that is going to be mighty and one that is going to be good for all of us.’ What makes these sentiments especially striking is that, during the recent talks, Michel and Varadkar were among the more obstreperous EU leaders. Michel, then the prime minister of Belgium, was reluctant to agree to anything, however beneficial to the EU 27, that might also be portrayed as beneficial to the UK. Varadkar, for his part, was prepared to risk a No Deal outcome rather than make any concession over the Irish backstop. So why the warm words? Because it is now clear, beyond doubt, that Britain is leaving. As Michael Heseltine put it at the weekend: ‘We’ve lost, we have to face up to that – we’re going to leave.’ As long as there was a prospect of forcing Britain to back down, it made sense for the EU to hang tough. Now that Brexit is inevitable, the interest of the remaining 27 is in maximising their own prosperity – something they can’t do without incidentally boosting Britain’s. – Daniel Hannan MEP for the Daily Mail Caroline Flint: Corbyn’s failed Brexit strategy sealed Labour’s fate After leave-voting Labour seats turned blue – including my own – the party could put aside any postmortem and move straight into a beauty contest, as we did in 2015; or ignore it altogether, as we did in 2017. Or we could rush to pre-prepared excuses. For ardent remainers, it’s all Jeremy and the failed Corbyn project; for diehard Corbynistas, it’s Brexit, Tory lies and the nasty media. Both are in denial. In Don Valley, my constituency, on almost every other door it was either Jeremy, Brexit or both. It’s not unusual in elections to hear voter dislike of our leader, but never on this scale. Voters made quite clear – sometimes brutally – what they thought of our candidate for prime minister. Occasionally we met someone who loved Jeremy. But after thousands of conversations, my party workers and I found the hostility to Jeremy relentless. Too leftwing, unpatriotic, against the armed forces, poor on TV, unwilling to say sorry for antisemitism, his handling of Brexit … the list went on. Without doubt, Corbyn has changed Labour. But is it an unstoppable mass movement? No. Jeremy promised “the biggest campaign this party has ever mounted”. It wasn’t. Apparently we beat the Tories on social media – but where their message was targeted at new voters, ours was an echo chamber of those already voting Labour. In the relentless rain and dark nights, many candidates found volunteers thin on the ground. While visiting flood victims in Doncaster, Jeremy told me that “we had 500 people out in Chingford” – Iain Duncan Smith’s outer London seat. “You won’t find that here,” I replied. And we didn’t win Chingford either. Labour wins when we have a leader the public believe in and a vision they can buy into. Some Labour policies were popular, but voters did not find them convincing. Free childcare, free tuition fees, free transport, free broadband – on top of free movement. One former GMB union shop steward and dinner lady commented, “Who’s paying for all this when I have worked all my life, and just about get by on my pension?” The second front was Brexit. I had warned that if unresolved, it would be fatal. And it was Brexit that cemented Labour’s undoing – including in my own seat. – Caroline Flint for the Guardian John Longworth: Brexit has been won – now Johnson’s real challenge with EU begins Nigel Farage accused me of a “metamorphosis” when I suggested that Boris’ newly published deal was in fact Brexit and that the Brexit party should declare victory and concentrate on around twenty seats in the general election. In case you have to look up metamorphosis, he was accusing me of a radical change, although it did cross my mind he had taken to reading Franz Kafka in his spare time. Saying that I was a Brexit “ultra” was absolutely true. I have been resolute in pursuit of Leaving the EU. A long time eurosceptic I gave up my livelihood in 2016 to fight for Brexit as Chairman of the vote leave business council. I sat with Boris on the referendum campaign committee and travelled with him around the country. I knew he was committed to the cause. I became a Brexit Party MEP with sole intention of delivering Brexit. Those involved in the BxP should be proud to have been instrumental in seeing off the treacherous Remainer government of Hammond and May. Boris became PM as a consequence and remarkably, given a hostile Parliament, obtained a deal that was a basic Brexit, a good starting point for a negotiation process leading to a great deal or walking away. – John Longworth MEP for the Express Steve Baker: Time for healing; I forgive those who call me a Nazi The Prime Minister is right that he has an overwhelming mandate to get Brexit done and move this country forward. At last. As we built Conservatives for Britain and Vote Leave, we never foresaw the range and depth of trouble which would be caused by the fundamentally Blairite governing elite. They had demanded we accept the 2016 referendum result. I failed to ask if they would. Well they have now tried, through every method in Parliament and the courts, to stop Brexit. And failed. Along the way, their campaign of delegitimization, demonization and demoralization has done immeasurable damage to the fabric of our country. I never thought they would get so far or do such harm. We beat them despite their having every advantage. Remain spent twice as much, including the government leaflet. Every institution seemed to be on their side. Every major party leader was for Remain.Still they were beaten. In a general election, both main parties pledged to leave. Then the Conservative government produced a deal so highly aligned to the EU it would have torn asunder the Conservative party and condemned us to a justly deserved trouncing as Nigel Farage split the vote everywhere, ushering the far Left into power. Meanwhile, Labour’s ridiculous offer was to combine revolutionary socialism with still greater alignment to the EU and a rigged referendum between their Remain-in-all-but-name deal or Remain. It is hardly surprising the most popular policy at this election was to leave with a deal and get on with centre ground politics. – Steve Baker MP for the Telegraph (£) Gisela Stuart: Boris will not betray his promise to the Leave voters who lent him their support For those that failed to notice the first time around, the country has voted to leave the EU once again. Boris Johnson promised to get Brexit done and the electorate backed him in droves. There were many other things that pushed voters towards Mr Johnson’s Tories on Thursday – Labour’s ideologically influenced Left-wing programme, its support for extremism but not so much for defence, its warmth towards traditional rivals but hostility to allies, and a woeful tolerance of anti-Semitism but intolerance of those moderates who cling on in the party’s increasingly cult-like ranks. There is no doubt, however, that Brexit played a very big part. Brexit divides Labour more than any other party. Nearly two thirds of Labour’s voters and almost all its MPs supported Remain but two thirds of its constituencies in the previous Parliament voted Leave. Labour’s Brexit offer in this election was therefore inevitably opaque. It is hard to accuse Boris of the same. His “oven ready” deal negotiated with the EU was there for all to see. He set a timetable to negotiate a new free trade agreement with Brussels by the end of next year. Even so, the ballot papers had hardly been cleared away before speculation began over whether the size of his majority might give Boris room to manoeuvre. Freed from the need to secure the votes of the European Research Group, pundits suggested Boris might negotiate a softer Brexit, staying close to the EU’s customs union and single market. As a migrant who originally came to the UK from Germany, I am still struck by the steadfast optimism the British can muster when evidence is entirely to the contrary. I can only say to those who hope for a Brexit close in substance to Remain that, in the last few years, you may not have been listening. – Gisela Stuart for the Telegraph (£) Raphael Hogarth: Remainers are too pessimistic about a swift deal with EU If Boris Johnson did a trade deal with the EU in 2020 it would be the fastest such deal the EU had done. The bloc’s deals with Korea, Canada and Japan took many years to negotiate. Pro-EU politicians have, accordingly, spent the general election campaign rubbishing his chances of signing before the end of next year, when the post-Brexit transition period expires, warning of a crash-out. Yet Mr Johnson can indeed get a deal next year. He is, after all, not asking for much. Unlike Theresa May, he does not want Britain half in, half out of the single market. He merely wants the UK and EU to agree not to put tariffs or quotas on each other’s goods. Since there are no tariffs now, much of the normal horse trading of a trade negotiation is cut out. The prime minister will start by talking tough on those issues but EU officials know that his great talent is to surrender and declare victory. That, they say, is what he did with the withdrawal agreement: agree to a border down the Irish Sea and claim he hadn’t. A big majority may give him the space to do that again. That doesn’t mean everything will be done and dusted next year. The deal would take more time to implement on the ground and more detailed agreements on specific areas of co-operation would have to come later. But Remain-minded MPs and campaigners should stop talking down the chances of a quick deal on the basics. Too often they have marred their credibility with bold, pessimistic predictions about the impossibility of Brexit negotiations, not least by wrongly predicting that the EU would never reopen the withdrawal agreement for Boris Johnson. – Raphael Hogarth for The Times (£) Trevor Kavanagh: Let’s cheers Boris Johnson’s victory over Brexit-hating fanatics who threatened our democracy It is distasteful to gloat, especially at Christmas. As we scan a battlefield littered with the severed limbs and corpses of the loony Left, this is surely a time for healing and forgiveness. The hell it is! This is precisely the time to gloat. Decent men and women of all political parties should glory in vanquishing a toxic threat to British democracy. Let’s cheer a stunning victory over those foam-flecked, foul-mouthed fanatics who smeared 17.4million Brexit voters as “thick, racist Tory scum”. Let’s revel in the humiliation of a we-know-best, politically correct metropolitan elite, the moaning Remainers and their nagging tribune, the BBC. Boris’s victory has not just put Jezza’s Momentum cult to the sword. It also skewered hypocrite luvvies Tony Blair, John Major, Hugh Grant and Dominic Grieve. Whatever became of Phil Hammond, by the way? Along with Anna “Suck It Up” Soubry (will she?), they have all been swept into oblivion by Thursday’s landslide. I certainly gloated on hearing dinosaur Michael Heseltine whimper: “We lost.” Just days ago, the scale of this victory seemed unthinkable. – Trevor Kavanagh for The Sun Brexit in Brief How the half a century-long Conservative civil war over Europe was won last week in a single day. By the Brexiteers – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome