Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Brussels could end up paying Britain a Brexit divorce bill, says Boris Johnson Brussels could end up having to pay Britain a Brexit divorce bill because the UK has contributed to so many EU assets, Boris Johnson has suggested, as he accused Europe of wanting to “bleed this country white”. In his first major interview of the election campaign, the Foreign Secretary said there were “very good arguments” to why Britain should demand money back, adding that EU leaders were “trying it on”. He said Britain could leave the EU without paying a penny if there was no Brexit deal, and compared warnings about a “no deal” Brexit to the unfounded fears over the non-existent millennium bug in 1999… Referring to the hostile leaking of an account of Theresa May’s Downing Street dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission President, and Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, he said: “We have seen already from the shameful way they treated the Number 10 dinner that Brussels is ruthless in its negotiating techniques. They are going to play dirty. We have got to be very wary and intellectually very firm.” – Telegraph (£) >Ken Worthy on BrexitCentral today: Not one of the main elements of the mooted “Brexit bill” is a genuine liability Michel Barnier insists that Brexit Irish border answer can be found… There is “always an answer” to the issue of what form the Irish border will take after Brexit, says the EU’s chief negotiator. Michel Barnier was speaking on a two-day visit to the Republic of Ireland ahead of the start of the Brexit talks… On the border issue, he said: “There is always a road when there is a will.” … “We want to find solutions without rebuilding any kind of hard border, but we have to find solutions also compatible with the single market.” He also urged the UK government to “keep calm and negotiate”. On Thursday, Mr Barnier said the Irish border issue would be one of his three priorities in the negotiations, adding that he would work to avoid a hard border. But he emphasised that there would have to be some form of customs controls as a result of Brexit. – BBC News …as Tony Blair claims Northern Ireland may leave UK because of Brexit Britain’s departure from the European Union makes the prospect of a united Ireland more likely, Tony Blair has warned. The former prime minister told The Times that his views on Irish unity were not a “judgment call” but rather an assessment of the facts since the referendum last June. He said that Brexit would result in Britain and Ireland being out of step with each other for the first time since partition. – The Times (£) EU ponders invisible Irish border after Brexit – Politico Ireland pushes for bespoke food deal in Brexit agreement – Politico (€) London Labour MPs defy party line on Brexit and demand single market membership A group of 16 opposition Labour Party lawmakers seeking re-election in London said on Friday Britain needed to remain a member of the European single market after Brexit, contradicting the party’s official position ahead of a June 8 election. Labour is trailing badly in opinion polls, with leader Jeremy Corbyn criticised by some supporters for not opposing Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU exit strategy strongly enough, and by others for not embracing Brexit more enthusiastically… “We are not ‘Remoaners’, and we do not underestimate the challenge of connecting with the many Labour voters who supported Brexit,” the group, lead by the party’s former business spokesman Chuka Umunna, said in a pamphlet. – Reuters Poll shows Brits more confident about Brexit negotiations An increasing number of British voters believe Prime Minister Theresa May will get the right deal for the U.K. in the upcoming Brexit negotiations, according to an ORB poll published Friday. Of the 2,000 people surveyed, 44 percent believe the prime minister will secure a good deal, compared to 41 percent last month. Around 34 percent of respondents said she would not get a good deal, down one percentage point from last month. – Politico Eduardo dos Santos: Brazil is wide open to business with post-Brexit Britain The potential dynamism of the UK-Brazil business relationship is quite obvious. Total bilateral trade between our two countries expanded at a remarkable rate in the first decade of this century, more than doubling between 2005 and 2011… An outstanding example of recent British investment in Brazil is the £240m manufacturing facility opened last year by Jaguar Land Rover near Rio – the very first UK automotive facility in Latin America. The last few years have also seen major British investment in Brazil’s oil sector, with Shell becoming the largest single foreign investor in any area of our economy… Given these opportunities, we see ourselves as natural partners if post-Brexit Britain becomes, in the words of Boris Johnson, “more outward-looking and more engaged with the world than ever before”. The conditions are ripe for British and Brazilian entrepreneurship to flourish. British pioneers should be confident that engaging with Brazil can lead to big things. – Eduardo dos Santos, Brazilian Ambassador to the UK, for the Telegraph Tony Barber: The vision of a closer Europe is retreating to the core Champions of European integration are fond of referring to the EU, and sometimes the eurozone, as if these are synonymous with Europe. At the height of the eurozone’s sovereign debt and banking crises, Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, affirmed: “If the euro fails, Europe fails.” In the same way Emmanuel Macron, France’s newly elected president, conflated the eurozone, EU and Europe when he gave a thoughtful speech about European integration in January at Berlin’s Humboldt university… Yet insofar as they approach their stated goal of closer union, the states involved will occupy, in years to come, a political, economic and legal space different from geographical Europe… Europe is set to shrink, not in a cultural but a political sense, to an area whose core is the Carolingian empire of 1,200 years ago. – Tony Barber for the FT (£) Stephen Pollard: Delivering Brexit is the best way to revive trust in politics Earlier this year, the so-called “trust barometer” produced by PR firm Edelman showed that the level of trust in politics has crashed from an already low base… Which is why Theresa May was absolutely right to speak this week about the issue of trust in British politics. Specifically, she pointed out that failure to deliver Brexit would “destroy trust” in politicians. Last June, we were asked whether we wanted to Leave or Remain. By a clear majority, we said we wanted to Leave. That should have settled the issue… Just as the EU project has always relied on ignoring voters’ wishes so today’s Remainers believe that the British people are too thick to know what they are doing. Whether it’s the Lib Dems en masse, or individual politicians and public figures from other parties who are campaigning to undermine Brexit, they are so wrapped up in their own sense of self-worth and self-importance that they simply could not care less what damage they do. – Stephen Pollard for the Express John Redwood: Financial services will be fine after Brexit Critics of Brexit… have regularly alleged that if we do not get the same access arrangements as today to the EU market after Brexit, the City will lose jobs and business to the continent. I have been accused of complacency for thinking that is untrue. I have pointed out we were told the UK would lose jobs, influence and business if we refused to join the Euro. We did decline to give up the pound, and our business in Euros grew substantially. Attempts to prevent clearing in London failed, as of course if you run one of the world’s large trading currencies you cannot stop non members of your union trading the currency and securities in it. Business goes to where the talent is and where the capital to execute the transactions resides. – John Redwood’s Diary Toby Young: Magical thinking isn’t a political position I’m due to debate the philosopher A.C. Grayling on Saturday about whether there should be a second EU referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal. It is part of a two-day event being held at Central Hall, Westminster, on ‘Brexit and the political crash’… I will set out the arguments against a second referendum as best as I can, but my heart won’t really be in it. By that, I don’t mean it’s something I’m on the fence about. Rather, it’s so preposterous that it’s beneath contempt. Does A.C. Grayling really think there will be enough time for Britain to agree a draft deal with the rest of the EU, organise a second referendum and, if the deal’s rejected, negotiate another deal before the two-year, Article 50 clock runs out? Or is the idea that if the deal is rejected, the clock will stop ticking and Britain will simply remain in the EU on exactly the same terms as before, with the results of the first referendum being completely disregarded? That’s not a serious political position. That’s magical thinking… Witnessing the ecstatic reaction of Clegg and co to Jean-Claude Juncker’s efforts to torpedo the negotiations last week, I concluded that they are, essentially, wreckers. They are trying to outflank the Eurosceptics on the right. Their position isn’t that no deal is better than a bad deal. It’s that no deal is better than any deal. They want everything to go completely pear-shaped so that they can say ‘I told you so.’ – Toby Young for The Spectator Brexit comment in brief Daniel Hodson, chairman of The City for Britain and a director of Vote Leave – Margareta Pagano interviews Daniel Hodson for the Independent Prime Minister should make good Brexit deal her No1 priority in manifesto – The Sun says Theresa May has the chance to make us proud in her Conservative manifesto as she prepares for landslide General Election victory against Labour – Tim Montgomerie for The Sun Those posh left-wing people who get on the BBC have helped drive UKIP voters to the Conservatives – Douglas Carswell for ConservativeHome Britain will leave but English will remain – FT editorial (£) Nostalgia is morphing into an existential crisis for Ukip – Jimmy Leach for The Times (£) Emmanuel Macron is a member of the elite – Frederick Forsyth for the Express Europe’s left craves a sign from elections in the Rhine – Roger Boyes for The Times (£) Brexit news in brief Juncker told to grow up by Tory MP after ‘trying to get David Davis sacked’ – Express ‘Paranoid’ May is not suited to heading EU talks, insists Nick Clegg – The Times (£) Writer’s sick jibe at Brexit voters: Ian McEwan says the death of elderly people would help swing a second referendum the other way – Daily Mail Gina Miller weeps as she receives a standing ovation from a Remoaners conference – Daily Mail Pan-European survey reveals public attitudes towards Brexit in the EU – Express Most Germans want EU to take tough stance on Brexit – Politico Influential German MEP Manfred Weber says Britain must be “punished” over Brexit “mistake” – Express Dutch politician turns tables on EU demanding €100bn from ECB boss if they leave eurozone – Express The Bundesbank just made it harder to move to Frankfurt after Brexit – Bloomberg Surge in Britons seeking German citizenship post Brexit vote – Telegraph Austrian coalition collapse opens way to far-right election challenge – FT (£) Theresa May recycles Remain battle bus for general election – Steerpike for the Spectator Coffee House And finally… Poll shows Brits want to quit Eurovision A majority of Brits would vote to leave Eurovision if there was a referendum on membership of the song contest, according to a YouGov poll out Friday. Around 56 percent of those who said they would definitely vote in a hypothetical referendum said they would vote to quit the event. Around 44 percent said they would want to remain a member of Eurovision… A fifth of respondents said they would watch the final on Saturday, of whom 19 percent said they watch just it to make fun of it. Only 9 percent of those who said they would be watching admitted they like the music. – Politico