Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team ‘No time to waste’ as Brexit talks will start just 11 days after the election, says Theresa May Britain has “no time to waste” in Brexit talks, Theresa May will warn as she says formal negotiations about leaving the European Union will start just 11 days after the election. The Prime Minister will tell supporters in Wales – which voted overwhelmingly to leave the European Union at the referendum – not to risk letting Jeremy Corbyn lead these talks. On her first visit to Wales of the official election campaign, Mrs May will stress that she will not take support from Welsh voters “for granted” as she seeks to win a Tory landslide on June 8. – Telegraph May to claim Corbyn is ‘uncertain’ on Brexit while she is ‘100% committed’ – Sky News Corbyn can’t be trusted to lead Brexit talks, says Boris Johnson… Boris Johnson has launched a fresh onslaught on Jeremy Corbyn warning he could not be trusted to lead the Brexit negotiations if he gained power in the General Election on June 8. “We are at a critical phase in the history of this country. We have to get Brexit right. I am genuinely alarmed by the idea that it could be handled in just 11 days after the election by Jeremy Corbyn,” he told ITV’s Peston on Sunday. – BT > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube: Boris: Immigration will come down under Theresa May …as the Labour leader refuses to ‘get into a numbers game’ over immigration Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has said if he wins the general election his administration would deliver a “fair” immigration policy, but refused to be drawn on whether he would bring down the numbers coming into the country. Speaking on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Mr Corbyn repeated his stance that the free movement of people “obviously ends” when Britain exits the European Union “because it’s a condition of the membership”. – Independent > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube: Corbyn refuses to say if he’d like to see more or less immigration Paul Nuttall: Ukip to be ‘guard dogs of Brexit’ if Theresa May backslides on EU deal Ukip intend to be the “guard dogs of Brexit” and ensure Theresa May does not “backslide” on Brexit. Party leader Paul Nuttall revealed he feared the Prime Minister would not negotiate the post-EU deal the British people “voted for” last June – and predicted she would make concessions on freedom of movement. Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, Mr Nuttall insisted that – despite disastrous local election results earlier this month – Ukip remains “strong” in its traditional areas of support. – ITV News > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube: Nuttall says UKIP forced Cameron into offering an EU referendum without MPs and we’ll be back Immediate clash over independence and Brexit in Scotland’s first election debate Scotland’s party leaders clashed on the issues of independence and Brexit immediately as the first TV debate of the election north of the border got under way. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was first to speak, calling on voters to back her SNP to protect Scotland – which voted to stay part of the European Union in 2016 – from an “extreme Brexit”. She also argued supporting the SNP would ” protect Scotland’s right to make our own decisions” with regard to an independence referendum. – Evening Express SNP offers ‘strong voice’ in Brexit negotiations – BBC News Overseas investment in Scotland plummets – The Times (£) Ruth Davidson launches furious tirade at Nicola Sturgeon over independence during TV debate – Telegraph When the audience turns on Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP is in trouble – Fraser Nelson for The Spectator Arlene Foster says Northern Irish parties were close to Brexit agreement before Stormont collapse The DUP leader is expected to say Stormont parties were very close to agreeing on the kind of Brexit they wanted, before talks paused last month. Arlene Foster will make her remarks to a Eurosceptic thinktank in London. Mrs Foster will say she is optimistic the parties can pick up where they left off, once the election dust settles. The DUP leader will tell the Bruges Group she is prepared to be flexible about the precise terms of any Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland. – BBC News EU Commission set to kick-off Brexit negotiations The European Commission will kick-off Brexit talks tomorrow as it meets to authorise the start of negotiations. The Commission’s general affairs council will rubber-stamp the negotiating guidelines agreed by the EU 27 nations at a meeting on 29 April, and nominate the Commission as the EU negotiator. However, talks will not start in earnest until after the UK General Election. The negotiating directives will set the agenda for the first phase of Brexit negotiations, prioritising the rights of citizens and the Brexit bill. – City A.M. EU dusts off forgotten body for Brexit big time – Politico Brussels warned off bid to strip City of euro trade Investors could face an extra €100 billion bill if Brussels forces the clearing of euro-denominated trades away from London because of Brexit, the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange has warned. The move would cause fragmentation of the €1 trillion market which forms the plumbing behind the global financial system, making it more difficult for clearing houses to offset risk, thereby increasing costs passed on to users including pensioners and savers. – The Times (£) Conservative candidates seemingly wiping the slate clean on Brexit Conservative candidates are refusing to say how they voted in last year’s EU referendum and appear to be erasing social media evidence on the subject, as Theresa May tries to unify her party around her vision of Brexit. Some candidates are refusing to tell electors whether they voted Leave or Remain while their social media accounts — otherwise filled with political commentary — are strangely devoid of comment on the results of last year’s referendum. – FT (£) Britain is the world’s biggest fan of prosecco Britons consumed a third of all the prosecco produced last year, more than any other country, as producers celebrated a bumper harvest. The Consortium for the Protection of Prosecco said that production has increased by 44.8 per cent between 2014 and last year, resulting in 410.9 million bottles of the fizzy stuff. – The Times (£) Polish airline LOT puts confidence in post-Brexit UK LOT Polish Airlines is to increase capacity on its Warsaw-Heathrow flights, brushing aside uncertainties over a possible Brexit effect on air travel. The airline, which operates three flights a day between Warsaw and London, is phasing in new Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft on the route. The planes carry 186 passengers, 74 more than the Embraer 195 now used on the service. Over the past year, the percentage of seats sold on LOT’s Warsaw-London route has hit 80pc on average. – Telegraph Brexit without deal on services ‘could cost £36bn a year’ The best result for Britain leaving the single market without preferential access for service companies entails a £25 billion loss of GDP, a report claims. At worst it could cost £36 billion. Disruption to banks, IT, telecoms and transport companies would cause a reduction of between £21 billion and £30.5 billion in exports each year, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), an independent consultancy. – The Times (£) Spanish Government eyes EU drugs agency move to Barcelona Spain’s prime minister is leading an attempt to move the European Medicines Agency from London to Barcelona after Brexit. Mariano Rajoy wrote to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, setting out the reasons why the agency’s headquarters should move to Spain. For Spain, wresting the agency from Britain would be revenge, because in the 1990s it was narrowly beaten by London’s candidacy. – The Times (£) Alex Deane: Don’t listen to the braying economic Eeyores: You don’t need deals to trade Having been denied the post-vote slump they forecast last year, economic Eeyores spend their time these days pooh-poohing Britain’s post-Brexit prospects, reserving their strongest scorn for the prospect of the UK making trade deals with other countries. But the Square Mile should be optimistic about the future, for four reasons. – Alex Deane for City A.M. Ben Kelly: Brexit Britain needs immigration The popular image of Theresa May as a safe pair of hands with a steely resolve is a major factor in her widespread popularity. The public perceive her as the best person to hold the reins steady as we go through the difficult process of leaving the European Union. She was certainly the best option of the Conservative leadership contenders; it would have been a sorry state of affairs if we were to go into negotiations armed only with Boris’s bluster or Andrea Leadsom’s ignorance. As for Jeremy Corbyn, he doesn’t have the brains or the heart or the stomach to represent Britain on the world stage. – Ben Kelly for Reaction What would WTO mean? Lee Rotherham: It would be a walk to a beach, not a cliff-edge drop to destruction “‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ ” Clearly, to judge by the key vocabulary surrounding Brexit, you can. Diplomatic clairvoyants are already pondering the tea leaves over what happens if no free trade treaty, not even a partial one, is reached between the EU and the UK after Brexit. In that instance, the modern global default will kick in. The UK would be left trading with EU member states on the basis of what’s usually called WTO terms – or more properly, Most Favoured Nation (MFN) treatment. – Lee Rotheram for ConservativeHome John Redwood: Why I am still optimistic about our future relationship with the EU Those who fear no deal or a bad deal are too pessimistic. They exaggerate the importance of government, treaties and rules. They underestimate the energy, good will and positive approach of most people on both sides of the Channel. The first thing to grasp is the UK will not be on her own. Under WTO rules which govern the EU as well as us, the EU cannot do anything adverse to us that it does not also do to the USA, China, India and the other major countries of the world. Similarly, under international law, the EU cannot pick on UK people, evict our citizens from their homes on the continent, or impose special taxes and requirements on UK people and companies that it does not also apply to Americans, Chinese and all other non EU citizens and companies. – John Redwood for John Redwood’s Diary Comment in brief Introducing a week-long series on what WTO would mean – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome Brexit news in brief Brexit plays into old divisions in Northern Ireland – Politico Hunting for Remain voters in the Leave heartlands – The Times (£) Limiting immigration ‘cannot be one-size-fits-all approach’ – The Times (£) Irish people want tougher stance on Brexit talks, poll suggests – RTE Brexit barriers ‘would harm science’, say universities – BBC News Qatar looks to woo UK with ‘Wall Street of the Middle East’ pitch – Telegraph Greece urges creditors to strike new debt relief deal – Telegraph