Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Sir Graham Brady urges the PM to support a bid to strip the Irish backstop from her Brexit deal… The Tories’ most powerful backbencher has called on Theresa May to support a fresh Commons bid by Brexiteers to strip the Irish backstop from her EU deal. The Sun can reveal that senior Tory Eurosceptics are planning to table an amendment to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to remove the controversial insurance plan that keeps Britain tied to the EU indefinitely. The explosive move – when the law to enforce the deal comes in front of Parliament soon – would spark a massive row with Brussels if it passes. The EU’s 27 leaders are adamant that the PM’s exit deal with them is dependent on the backstop remaining. But Brexiteers insist it would lay down the gauntlet to Brussels to renegotiate the deal or force Britain out without one – a sanction EU chiefs have proved desperate to avoid. The chairman of Tory MPs’ 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady pressed the PM to adopt the plan herself during private talks with her in No10 this week. – The Sun May urged to back fresh amendment to remove Irish backstop from deal – Express …although the Government has no plan to introduce the Withdrawal Bill to Parliament next week… The UK government has not proposed a bill designed to implement the prime minister’s fragile Brexit withdrawal treaty. Andrea Leadsom, leader of the House of Commons, said on Thursday that there was no plan to introduce the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to the Commons next week. The passage of the legislation would pave the way for both the UK and the EU to ratify the draft exit treaty and, if swiftly approved, there would be no need to hold European Parliament elections on May 23. But if the legislation is rejected, the government could not reintroduce it again in this session of parliament. The bill could still be proposed next week at the last minute if the Commons business is amended. – FT (£) …and Theresa May stalls for more time to deliver Brexit by refusing to detail when she’ll quit Theresa May stalled for more time to deliver Brexit last night by initially refusing a demand from MPs to lay out a timetable to go. The 1922 Committee issued the request of the PM on Wednesday, after blocking a new Brexiteer bid to oust her now. The Conservative grandees made it clear that Mrs May must stand down by the autumn at the latest, whether Britain had left the EU or not. Grilled on what he response was to the demand, the PM told ITV News: “Of course I listen to the party. “What many in the party say to me, which is what I hear from a lot of people on the doorstep, is they want us to focus on delivering Brexit. That’s what I’m focused on doing.” The race to succeed her continued to intensify yesterday as a leading contender, Jeremy Hunt, insisted the next Tory leader doesn’t need to have voted for Brexit. The Foreign Secretary voted Remain in the 2016 referendum but backs Leave now. In his strongest hint yet that he will run for the nation’s top job, Mr Hunt said: “It’s got to be someone who believes in Brexit”. – The Sun Jeremy Hunt declares that the Government should opt for No Deal if the alternative is remaining in the EU Britain should leave the EU without a deal if the only alternative is remaining in the bloc, Jeremy Hunt has said. The foreign secretary said he would be willing to deliver a no-deal Brexit if he is prime minister because the “democratic risk” of not leaving the EU is greater than the economic damage of leaving without an agreement. He insisted the UK would “make a success” of a no-deal outcome despite the “very significant” disruption it would cause. Mr Hunt is tipped as a frontrunner to succeed Theresa May as prime minister. He backed Remain in 2016 but has since emphasised the need to deliver Brexit and often sided with Eurosceptic colleagues in cabinet. Asked if he would be willing as prime minister to take Britain out of the EU without a deal, the foreign secretary told a Westminster lunch: “If there was a binary choice between no deal or no Brexit I would choose no deal because I think the democratic risk of no Brexit ultimately is higher than the economic risk of no deal.” – Independent Nigel Farage reveals for the first time his Brexit Party will stand at the next general election The Brexit Party is planning to take on the Tories and Labour in the next General Election, The Sun can reveal. Nigel Farage has confirmed he wants to run candidates for Parliament in future to stop Remainer MPs blocking Brexit. His new party is on course to come top in next month’s EU elections just months after it was founded. And in an interview with The Sun, Mr Farage pledged to use the Brussels poll as a “springboard” to take the party into power in Westminster. But the move could end up with Jeremy Corbyn in No10 if the Brexit Party takes millions of votes away from the Tories. The ex-Ukip leader said: “We want the European election to be the first step of a massive change that resteps entirely British politics and actually makes it look more like the country. MPs will realise that if they carry on trying to stop Brexit, they’ll lose their seats at the next General Election. I think they will be very fearful of what the Brexit Party can do to them. That’ll give them two choices – either they change and start to deliver Brexit, or we’ll replace them at that General Election.” – The Sun Japan warns that a no-deal Brexit must be avoided at all costs at Brussels summit Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, has said that a no deal Brexit must be avoided at all costs at a summit with European Union chiefs in Brussels. Mr Abe said that Japanese companies needed a predictable business environment to continue their operations in the UK before calling on the EU and Britain to ensure a smooth Brexit. Standing alongside Jean-Claude Juncker., the president of the European Commission and Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, Mr Abe said that Japanese firms had invested in Britain because it was a “gateway to Europe”. He said he had discussed the recent extension of the Brexit deadline to Halloween with Mr Juncker and Mr Tusk and called on the EU and Britain to “gather their wisdom to overcome the situation.” – Telegraph (£) Lord Adonis apologises for telling Brexiters not to vote Labour in EU elections The pro-remain Labour peer Andrew Adonis, who is standing for the party in the EU elections, has backed its “sensible alternative plan” to deliver a Brexit deal, in a Facebook post that baffled some of his supporters. In the post, Lord Adonis, a candidate European parliament elections candidate in the South West England constituency, apologised for “off-the-cuff comments” he had made during an LBC radio phone interview, in which he said those who were pro-Brexit should not vote Labour because the party was going to stop Britain leaving the EU. His apology came as it was revealed that Labour’s leaflets in the south-west make no mention of a second referendum. Instead, the leaflets promise “a better deal with Europe” involving a close relationship with the EU and a say over trade deals. Adonis wrote on Thursday that he backed Labour’s plan for a soft Brexit, with the option for a referendum only if that cannot be delivered. Several high-profile remain campaigners, including the former Labour MP Chuka Umunna, said they had initially believed the post was a spoof. – Guardian …while Jeremy Corbyn faces fury over Labour European election leaflet suggesting the party backs Brexit… Jeremy Corbyn is facing a fierce backlash from Labour members after a draft leaflet for the European elections said the party would press ahead with Brexit. The leaflet, passed to HuffPost UK, makes no mention of the party’s policy to push for a second referendum on quitting the EU, was sent out to MEPs on Thursday. One Labour insider said: “MEPs were not given these leaflets to review, they were just told: this is what the party is printing and this is what they would have to put out.” The leaflet claims the party will seek a “better deal with Europe” which ensures the UK has “a say on trade deals”, while also underlining party policy on domestic issues. It has left the party’s pro-EU membership furious and dismayed, with one activist telling HuffPost UK: “In what will be an utterly polarised election, standing in the middle will be a bad move.” – Huffington Post …and Labour’s National Policy Forum demands the party campaigns for another referendum The International Commission of Labour’s National Policy Forum – which consists of MPs, trade unionists, MEPs, and constituency representatives – has voted unanimously that Labour’s manifesto for European elections should pledge to hold a confirmatory referendum on any Brexit deal. Sources say there were no dissenting voices. On Wednesday all Labour MEPs voted in precisely the same unanimous way, for a referendum. Friday’s Labour’s Trade Union Liaison Organisation is likely to inform the party’s ruling NEC that its big union supporters – including Unison, the GMB and USDAW, but obviously not Unite – also want a referendum. So it is increasingly hard to see how Labour’s ruling NEC can at its emergency meeting next Tuesday ignore such widespread membership pressure and do anything but adopt a confirmatory referendum as the foundation of its manifesto. That said many senior Labour figures tell me they worry Seumas Milne and Jeremy Corbyn will somehow find a way to prevent the party adopting an unambiguous pledge to campaign for a referendum. – ITV News Government faces legal challenge amid fears millions of EU citizens could lose right to vote The government is facing a legal challenge over its preparations for the upcoming European parliament elections amid fears that millions of EU citizens in the UK could be deprived of their vote. Under current rules, EU citizens must register to vote and also sign a special form stating that they are not also voting in any other EU country, known as a “UC1”, by 7 May. But chaos surrounding the date of the UK’s departure from the EU means the form was only sent to 2 million European nationals on the electoral register a few weeks before the deadline – instead of the usual four-month period. A leading organisation, representing EU citizens in the UK, has urged ministers to take immediate action to remedy the situation – or face potential legal action. – Independent French fury at UK as their MEPs face being booted out by British MEPs who shouldn’t even be there France is to elect ghost MEPs who will have absolutely no role because their seats will be occupied by British politicians hell-bent on causing EU chaos and quitting the very parliament they are part of. According to many pundits and polls, Britain is likely to elect anti-EU members of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in the forthcoming farcical European elections on May 22. Mr Farage has been clear he wants to force Brexit by creating a “democratic revolution” in the European elections and send a message to Westminster that the UK public are sick of MPs failing to deliver on the result of the referendum. But the UK’s participation in EU elections has caused anger in France as it means the country’s influence in the European parliament will be reduced. French ministers were presented with a draft bill on Wednesday which stressed that Britain’s participation in the European parliamentary elections would have an impact on the number of French MEPs. – Express Irish backstop could undermine EU standards, suggest German Greens It is a dastardly trap, designed to lock freedom-loving Britain into the European Union’s protectionist customs union: that is the argument against the so-called backstop, cited by hardline Brexit advocates as the main reason why they have thrice voted down Theresa May’s deal with the European Union. But as the dust settles after months of chaos in Westminster, suspicions are growing on the other side of the Channel that the backstop could in fact be the very opposite: a brilliant deception device constructed by crack UK negotiators, which would allow a more reckless British prime minister to undermine the EU’s green and social standards while still keeping access to the European single market. A new report, commissioned by the German Green party and seen by the Guardian, will exacerbate concerns in Berlin over the small print of the withdrawal agreement in its current form. – Guardian Nigel Farage: Dear Leavers, Lord Adonis doesn’t want your support, but my Brexit Party certainly does If there is a more arrogant and dishonest national political figure at the moment than Lord Adonis of Camden Town, I am not aware of them. This Labour peer and pro-EU obsessive (I do not use the term lightly) has spent the last 34 months lobbying for a second EU referendum because he doesn’t like the result of the first one. In Britain in 2019, there’s nothing unusual in that, you might think. But Adonis is no ordinary anti-democrat. His views when it comes to the EU are so extreme that he declared last September during an LBC phone-in: “If you’re a Brexiter, I hope that you won’t vote for the Labour Party because the Labour Party is moving increasingly against Brexit.” He then added for good measure: “I’m saying if what you want is Brexit delivered, you should vote for the party that is going to deliver Brexit.” His words were unambiguous. In effect, he told those people who normally vote for his party but who also happen to back Brexit: “You do not count and may as well not exist.” – Nigel Farage for the Telegraph (£) Lucy Harris: Leavers have been insulted and betrayed. I’m standing for the Brexit Party to defend their votes I’ve run a national campaign bringing Brexit supporters (and non-Brexit supporters!) together over a pint and a chat for over three years now, travelling up and down the country, from small seaside towns to hilly hamlets. I’ve met such a depth of vibrant and inspirational characters who have touched me with their stories, histories and aspirations. These are people who are too often reduced to being nothing more than the target of patronising Guardian opinion articles or the butt of mainstream comedians’ jokes simply for wanting their voices to be heard and their democratic wishes fulfilled. I went up to Cumbria last February for a funeral and to lighten the atmosphere I held a pub meet-up for local Leave voters. To my surprise a man walked through the door who I recognised. He was the man who had selflessly looked after my grandparents for more than five years – delivering their milk, stopping by for local gossip and bringing a smile to their faces. – Lucy Harris for the Telegraph (£) Katie Weston: The EU Election is the second referendum – so you better get out and vote! European elections are “another vote on Brexit” with Britons being presented the choice between Remain and Leave, by voting for either Change UK or the Brexit Party, it has been claimed. On the latest episode of Brexit: The Final Countdown, host Rebecca Hutson is joined by Express.co.uk Head of News Paul Baldwin and Video News Editor Thomas Hunt. Mr Hunt insisted that European elections are “another vote on Brexit”, with Britons receiving the choice of Remain or Leave. He explained that there are now “two very clear options”, with Change UK and the Brexit Party launching their campaigns on Tuesday. Mr Hunt argued: “I actually think the whole ‘second referendum, we need another vote on Brexit’, this is it.” – Express John Redwood: Undemocratic MPs who want to reverse the referendum Take back control of our money, our laws and our borders. It was a straightforward and very popular proposal. It received more votes than any other idea or party in our democratic history. More than 82% voted for candidates in the 2017 General election who promised to implement the result. So why are there now so many MPs who will do anything to delay, dilute or cancel Brexit? What part of Leave did they not understand? Why do they presume that they now know better than the voters, and know better than they did themselves when they were seeking votes two years ago? The TIG s or Change UK have set themselves up as an MP group to help thwart Brexit in the Commons. The BBC gives them plenty of coverage as our national broadcaster panders to the views of a tiny party with MPs as they seem to like their anti Brexit stance. These MPs do not want a general election any time soon and refuse to put themselves up for by elections despite changing the party they were elected to be part of. They get on well together looking down on the majority who voted for Brexit. – John Redwood’s Diary Asa Bennett: Forcing Lord Adonis to accept Brexit shows how terrified Labour is about Nigel Farage Andrew Adonis is the yin to Nigel Farage’s yang. The “Remain man”, who duked it out with “Mr Brexit” in a titanic edition of Chopper’s Brexit Podcast, is such a staunch anti-Brexiteer that it seemed like they would be destined to fight it out forever, like Batman and the Joker. But something remarkable has happened: the Labour peer now accepts that the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union. “Labour has always been clear it respects the result of the referendum,” Lord Adonis announced on Facebook solemnly yesterday, praising its “sensible plan” for “a close economic relationship with the EU after Brexit.” Those two sentences will have been the most painful for Lord Adonis to write given how vociferously anti-Brexit he has been over recent months. Just two weeks ago, he was braying that he would have preferred a longer Brexit delay – such as 500 years – but conceded that the latest extension to Article 50 was “long enough to finish off Brexit”. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Robert Hutton: Brexit Party threatens Tories and they aren’t even fighting back Nigel Farage is back, doing what he does best: Terrifying Conservative members of Parliament. Theresa May’s deeply divided Conservative Party can’t agree on how to tackle the threat posed by the veteran anti-EU campaigner and founder of the new Brexit Party — a threat one Cabinet minister described as existential. As long as the Tories fail to deliver Brexit, the minister said, Farage will strip them of votes. The first test of that will be on May 23, when the country is likely to take part in an election to the European Union’s parliament — even though Britain voted to leave the bloc three years ago. Polls put Farage’s Brexit Party, which wants an immediate, clean break from the EU, on course to win the most votes. And as he travels the country drumming up support with beer and open-topped buses, the Tories aren’t even trying to fight him. – Robert Hutton for Bloomberg Robert Peston: How long can Corbyn resist Labour’s drift towards a second referendum? The International Commission of Labour’s National Policy Forum – which consists of MPs, trade unionists, MEPs, and constituency representatives – has voted unanimously that Labour’s manifesto for European elections should pledge to hold a confirmatory referendum on any Brexit deal. My sources say there were no dissenting voices. On Wednesday, all Labour MEPs voted in precisely the same unanimous way, for a referendum. Friday’s Labour’s Trade Union Liaison Organisation is likely to inform the party’s ruling NEC that its big union supporters – including Unison, the GMB and USDAW, but obviously not Unite – also want a referendum. So it is increasingly hard to see how Labour’s ruling NEC can at its emergency meeting next Tuesday ignore such widespread membership pressure and do anything but adopt a confirmatory referendum as the foundation of its manifesto. – Robert Peston for The Spectator The Sun: Andrew Adonis’s staggering Brexit U-turn exposes him as an unprincipled chancer Andrew Adonis’s staggering Brexit U-turn finally exposes him as the definitive example of all those unprincipled chancers now rotting British politics. Once a Lib Dem, he became an unelected Labour peer, a staunch Blairite, then a Brownite. Then he became the Tories’ infrastructure chief. Then came his deranged crusade to reverse Brexit and his unhinged social media attacks on Leavers and even neutral civil servants planning for Brexit. He told Leavers not to vote Labour. Now, though, he’s a Corbynista MEP candidate, suddenly batting for a “sensible”, “socialist” Brexit. No wonder “people’s vote” Remainers are outraged at their former figurehead’s betrayal. Is there anything this odious shapeshifter won’t do for a first-class seat aboard the publicly funded gravy train? – The Sun Brexit in Brief The Conservatives treated Widdecombe with disdain. They will pay the price in lost votes next month – Iain Dale for ConservativeHome Would Brussels even allow an independent Scotland to join the EU? – Telegraph (£) P&O takes legal action over no-deal Brexit preparations – FT (£) Two EU countries could join Britain by quitting the bloc – Express