Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Main parties lose hundreds of seats at local elections amidst Brexit backlash Voters have vented their anger at the two main parties over the Brexit deadlock as both the Tories and Labour suffered major losses in the English council elections – and the Liberal Democrats enjoyed significant gains. Labour and the Conservatives suffered the biggest losses in their heartlands of the North and South East as their traditional voters abandoned the two main parties. The Tories had already been braced for a tough night amid frustration at Prime Minister Theresa May’s failure to take Britain out of the EU on March 29 as planned. But Labour also struggled, losing seats at a point in the electoral cycle when they could expect to be making significant gains at the expense of the Government. In contrast, the Liberal Democrats said they enjoyed an ‘awesome’ night, with some predictions that they could gain up to 500 seats in their best results since 2003. – Daily Mail Theresa May humiliated as Conservatives face Brexit backlash – Express Lib Dems and Greens make gains as Brexit frustration cause Conservatives and Labour heavy losses – Independent ‘Our position on Brexit has failed’: MPs react to early election results Early losses for both Labour and the Conservatives in the English local council elections were cause for critical reflection from the parties’ politicians, with Brexit cited by many as the key cause. By around 5am, the Conservatives had lost a net 117 seats and Labour was down 32, while the Lib Dems were up 96, the Greens had gained 16 and Ukip two. Labour MP Jess Phillips reacted by saying her party’s position on Brexit had “failed”. “I’m off to bed as have to be up at 7am to do the school run,” she tweeted. “My final word is that I think our position on Brexit has failed. Bravery is needed. If you combine kindness and effectiveness with a bit of grit most people will respect you even when they don’t always agree.” Fellow Labour MP Wes Streeting said losses in Sunderland and Liverpool demonstrated that “looking both ways on Brexit isn’t doing Labour any good”. – ITV News Nigel Farage says he’s too busy to become an MP in Peterborough by-election – as new poll shows his Brexit Party is twice as popular as Tories Nigel Farage won’t run to become an MP next month – telling The Sun he’s too busy to take part in the Peterborough by-election. The Brexit Party boss ruled himself out as a candidate for the Commons as his party soared way ahead of the Tories in a fresh poll. Mr Farage’s party now has twice as much support as the Conservatives ahead of this month’s European elections. There will be a by-election in Peterborough on June 6 after criminal MP Fiona Onasanya was booted out by voters last night. The Brexit Party will challenge the Tories and Labour in the Cambridgeshire seat. But today Mr Farage insisted he won’t be the candidate, telling The Sun: “Impossible – I have a national campaign to run!” He added that the party hasn’t had time to choose its flagbearer in the by-election yet. Peterborough is traditionally a Tory-Labour swing seat, picked up by Onasanya in the 2017 General Election. A new YouGov poll released today shows the Brexit Party is on course to win 30 per cent of the votes in the European Parliament elections on May 23. – The Sun Tories lose Peterborough before by-election triggered by shamed Onasanya – Express Theresa May accepts her dream of a Brexit before the European election is over Downing Street has abandoned any lingering hope of rushing a Brexit plan through the Commons in time to avoid elections to the European Parliament taking place in Britain. The contests are scheduled to take place on 23 May. Theresa May has repeatedly maintained they would be cancelled if a withdrawal agreement could be agreed by MPs by the day before. But one Whitehall official has now conceded: “Realistically we have passed that point.” He indicated that the government’s revised target was to win support for a Brexit by the end of June, avoiding the requirement for newly elected Euro-MPs to take up their seats in the Strasbourg Parliament on 2 July. The new timetable emerged after Mrs May indicated she wanted cross-party talks between the Tories and Labour to be wrapped up next week. On Monday the two sides met for a session described by both sides as “serious and constructive” and they are due to meet again next Tuesday. – iNews Andrea Leadsom accuses Cabinet Remainers of living in a ‘parallel universe’ over Brexit Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom has accused Europhile Cabinet colleagues of living in a “parallel universe” to the Tory party over Brexit. She hit out after warnings from Tory chiefs that a deal with Labour is the only way of getting a deal through Parliament. Chief whip Julian Smith told Cabinet on Tuesday that Ministers may have to accept a customs fudge with Labour. Ms Leadsom questioned the idea at a meeting of the so-called ‘Pizza Club’ of Brexit-backing Ministers later that night. One insider said: “She couldn’t believe it and wondered what parallel universe the Cabinet are living in to the rest of the party – and the country.” The revelation came as Rory Stewart, the new International Aid Secretary, toasted his appointment to Cabinet by saying the Government “has to reach out to Labour”. He told the BBC: “We need a Brexit deal and we’re not getting it through the Conservative side.” – The Sun Cabinet leak culture has damaged the Brexit process, says Jeremy Hunt Britain’s Brexit decisions have been damaged by a year-long culture of cabinet leaks, the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has said in an apparent swipe at some of his colleagues, including Gavin Williamson who was sacked as defence secretary. Referring to the effect of leaks on Brexit, Hunt said: “I think it has made it harder to deliver what we have been trying to achieve and yes, of course it damages trust. When we are faced with very difficult judgment calls on Brexit issues, it is obviously of great benefit to the country if everyone can discuss them freely without having to think how decisions will be leaked afterwards. So I am hoping this will be a moment of change for the whole machinery of government works.” Asked whether the constant leaks from cabinet had hurt the Brexit process, he said: “Yes, I think it has.” He added that in the past year leaking had become the norm. – Guardian Cabinet leaks are undermining Brexit, says Jeremy Hunt – Daily Mail Guy Verhofstadt takes scathing dig at the UK in EU campaign speech… Guy Verhofstadt has branded British voters “stupid” as he claimed Britain’s decision to quit the European Union had boosted support for the bloc despite the growing threat of eurosceptic parties ahead of the European parliamentary elections. Guy Verhofstadt said support for the European Union has increased since Brexit because EU citizens are not “as stupid as the Brits”. Mr Verhofstadt, who is running to replace European Commission boss Jean-Claude Juncker when he retires in October, has been serving as Brexit coordinator for the European Parliament since 2016 and has been an outspoken opposer of Britain quitting the bloc. Speaking in Florence during a debate with his fellow Commission candidates, the Belgian politician said: “The problem today is the following – the European Union is under threat. Not the European project – since Brexit, public opinion in Europe is more pro-European Union than before Brexit. What that says is we are not as stupid as the Brits to go out.” – Express …before announcing he will knock on doors for the Lib Dems in the European parliament elections The European parliament’s outspoken Brexit chief is coming to Britain next week to knock on doors in the European elections on behalf of the Liberal Democrats. Guy Verhofstadt, who is himself seeking re-election as a Belgian liberal MEP, will hop on the Eurostar from Brussels to join Lib Dem canvassers on the doorstep on Friday. While Mr Verhofstadt is best known in Britain for being the parliament’s voice in Brexit talks, the former Belgian prime minister is also leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the European parliament, in which the Lib Dems sit. His visit to the UK is a potential boost for the party, who are locked in competition with the Green Party and Change UK for the hardcore Remainer vote. All three parties have argued that people who want a final say referendum should vote for them – but the vote is in danger of being split. – Independent Jean-Claude Juncker: Europeans have lost ‘libido’ for each other Jean-Claude Juncker has warned the danger for the EU is that Europeans have “lost their collective libido” for each other, but added that in Britain the “bride” – the EU – had been “systematically reviled” from the start and then “rejected”. A few days before a leaders’ summit on the future of the bloc in the Romanian city of Sibiu, the president of the European commission offered a whimsical analysis of the state of the continent. Juncker, who is set to leave his role in November, said that he believed that the EU’s executive branch under his leadership had focused on the “big things” while exercising “modesty in the small things”. “I have ensured that the commission no longer gets involved in every tiny detail of citizens’ lives,” he said. “I am both surprised and disappointed that no one has notice this.” But the former prime minister of Luxembourg, weeks before the European elections, conceded that the growth of Eurosceptic parties was an ominous sign for the continent. – Guardian Bank of England upgrades UK growth forecasts (despite Brexit) It is perhaps remarkable that while Westminster echoes to the sound of discord the economy continues to advance to a slow, steady drumbeat. This morning the Bank of England has decided that growth is and will be a little stronger than it was predicting three months ago. October 31 is the new deadline for Brexit but this extension was not a material factor in the Bank’s assessment of our economic prospects. The Bank has quarterly growth of 0.5% – instead of 0.2% – pencilled in for the first three months of this year. A revision that was driven by companies furiously stockpiling for a potentially disruptive Brexit at the end of March. The boost is temporary – a sugar rush that will wear off. But the Bank believes our fortunes over the medium term also burn a little brighter. It now predicts annual growth of 2.2% by mid-2022 and expects the rate of unemployment to fall to 3.5% – the lowest it has ever forecast. – ITV News Union fear £1bn Royal Navy ships order will go to Spain in shoddy Brexit deal over Gibraltar A £1billion order for Royal Navy supply ships is being steered towards a Spanish naval yard in a shoddy Brexit deal over Gibraltar, trade unions fear. Senior GMB officials are furious over reports that the Navantia naval dockyard in the north of Spain has been chosen to build Fleet Solid Support vessels. Navantia is one of five bids in the running for the contract. The only UK company competing is Babcock, which will send part of the work to the Rosyth yard in Fife. GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith said: “We have been clear that the contracts for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessels hold the key to the transformation of our shipbuilding sector. Three 40,000-ton vessels would provide years of work for yards like Rosyth, where we are haemorrhaging jobs.” Smith said reports from industry sources signalled that Navantia would be given the contract in an attempt to buy the Spanish government’s silence over territorial claims to Gibraltar in Brexit negotiations. – Daily Record Iain Duncan Smith: From leaks to talks with Labour, this Government is deeply disingenuous on Brexit We have become used to leaks from Cabinet, as well as ministers publicly disagreeing with Government Brexit policy by writing articles to that effect without being admonished. Now one minister has been sacked because the Prime Minister says he leaked a decision from the National Security Council. I wonder if this signals the pursuit of other ministers for their breaches over Brexit. Will a similar inquiry take place into who leaked the Cabinet Secretary’s peculiarly hysterical report on the effects of leaving the EU without a deal? Maybe not, as I note No 10 didn’t seem too bothered about that particular leak. And perhaps that’s because they are not being straightforward about their Brexit policy, but very disingenuous indeed. – Iain Duncan Smith MP for the Telegraph (£) Asa Bennett: Whatever Brexit deal Theresa May pursues needs to pass the Penny Mordaunt test On the face of it, the mini-reshuffle prompted by Gavin Williamson’s sacking has shifted overall cabinet opinion in a softer direction. Rory Stewart – once mocked as the “chief spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s deal” – has been rewarded for his salesmanship by being brought up to cabinet level. Within hours of starting in his new job as international development secretary, he was on ITV explaining to Robert Peston why her cross-party talks with Labour were a “smart thing to do” and indicated his readiness to support her if she compromised over a customs union. Mr Stewart’s new job was freed up by Penny Mordaunt, who has moved across to the Ministry of Defence. She can boast – unlike her predecessor – to have fought on the winning side in the referendum. But since then, Mr Williamson has fought with the zeal of a convert, declaring in January that Britain “will succeed and do incredibly well” even if it leaves the European Union without a deal. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Robert Peston: Theresa May has just days to seal her Brexit destiny Theresa May is behaving like a prime minister who has worked out that taking cautious steps to cling on to power is a bankrupt strategy. The ruthlessness with which she dispatched her defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, who was till recently her closest ally is one piece of supporting evidence. The point is that when he allegedly told senior armed forces personnel that “I made her and I can break her”, it was not just bluster. As behind-the-scenes organiser of her campaign to become leader (dispatched to do that job by Cameron and Osborne – who wanted to stop Boris) and as her ruthlessly effective chief whip, he was an invaluable supporter. From which it follows that if Williamson now chooses to become her enemy, he would be formidable. But she doesn’t care. Why not? – Robert Peston for ITV News Tom Goodenough: Tories and Labour hit by Brexit backlash in local elections The Tories and Labour have been hit by a Brexit backlash in the local elections overnight. The Conservatives are down 395 councillors, while Labour lost 78 representatives compared to 2015. Smaller parties including the Lib Dems, Greens and Independents made gains at the expense of the Tories and Labour. The Lib Dems are up 271 councillors, with the Greens up by 36. Independent councillors took a 25 per cent bigger vote share in the 69 wards in which they were standing in a further sign that voters were turning away from the major parties. But Ukip, which has so far lost 49 councillors, failed to capitalise on the trend. – Tom Goodenough for The Spectator Catherine McBride: Who’s afraid of chlorinated chicken? I have a close American friend, now living in Ohio, who is quite finicky about what she eats but she had never heard of “Chlorinated Chicken”. When I explained to her that the chicken that she eats in the US has been sprayed with chlorinated water to kill bacteria but that chicken in the EU has not, she appeared to be more worried about my health than about hers. But listening to the BBC you could get the impression that if the UK agrees a trade deal with the US, then the UK population will be compelled to live exclusively on “Chlorinated Chicken”, and even though the US population is still alive and healthy, somehow the UK population will suffer by eating the same. – Catherine McBride for Briefings for Brexit Brexit in Brief It’s time we protected the Queen from Brexit – Philip Collins for The Times (£) “We don’t believe you” – John Redwood’s Diary More than 600,000 EU citizens apply for UK settled status – Guardian Furious BBC Question Time audience member hits out at Emily Thornberry – ‘I know what I voted for’ – Express Britons most positive in Europe on benefits of immigration – Guardian Britain needs a ‘national deal’ with Labour on Brexit to stop future governments dismantling it, says Rory Stewart – Telegraph (£) British teenagers able to apply for free EU rail passes despite Brexit – Guardian