European leaders renew fraying EU vows on 60th anniversary Europeans must contain their squabbling and carping about the EU if the Union is to survive, leaders warned on Saturday as they marked the 60th anniversary of its founding in Rome by signing a formal declaration of unity. Four days before Prime Minister Theresa May, absent from the ceremony in the Italian capital, delivers an unprecedented blow to the bloc’s growth by filing Britain’s formal exit papers, her fellow leaders hailed 60 years of peace and prosperity and pledged to deepen a unity frayed by regional and global crises. But days of wrangling about the wording of a 1,000-word Rome Declaration, May’s impending Brexit confirmation and tens of thousands of protesters gathering beyond the tight police cordon around the Campidoglio palace offered a more sober reminder of the challenges of holding the 27 nations to a common course. – Reuters The European Union’s failure to be more pragmatic is its downfall – and poses the greatest risk for its future – Peter Foster for the Daily Telegraph Saving the Union from Scottish independence is put at the heart of Brexit negotiations… A Whitehall shake-up is underway to make sure that saving the Union from Scottish independence is at the heart of Brexit negotiations. The country’s most senior civil servant tasked with defending the UK will move into the Brexit Department, it can be revealed. Philip Rycroft, who heads up the “UK Governance Group”, will scrutinise every Brexit decision to make sure it does not undermine the Union. He is also understood to be looking at which powers coming back from the EU should be handed on to the Scottish Parliament. Meanwhile ministers are planning to spend more time in Scotland for meetings with business, academic and UK Government figures. – Sunday Telegraph …as Theresa May touts Brexit deal ‘so good you won’t need Indyref2’ Theresa May will head north of the border this week and attempt to defuse the SNP’s plan for a second referendum by focusing on a Brexit deal that delivers for Scotland. With Nicola Sturgeon warning of hard Brexit, the Prime Minister will attempt to find common ground with the Scottish Government on access to the single market and protecting the rights of EU nationals. May will also announce new temporary powers for the Scottish Parliament designed to ensure a smooth transition as the UK extricates itself from EU law. – The Scotsman British taxpayers have forked over half a trillion pounds to Brussels since we joined EU British taxpayers have handed more than £500billion to Brussels since we joined the EU, figures reveal. The cost is laid bare three days before Theresa May fires the Brexit starting gun. Since we signed up in 1973, our annual bill has rocketed from £1.8billion in today’s money to nearly £20billion at the last count. Brexit Secretary David Davis will use the figures to fight EU demands we cough up £50billion as the price for leaving. Writing in The Sun on Sunday, he says: “We’re going to get out there, negotiate hard and deliver on what the people in the UK voted for.” – The Sun on Sunday Labour to set out tough new conditions for backing Brexit in the Commons Labour will refuse to vote in the House of Commons for any Brexit deal struck between Theresa May and the 27 remaining EU states unless the deal ensures precisely the same economic and trade benefits as Britain currently gains from full membership. In a major policy speech on Monday, Labour’s Brexit spokesman, Keir Starmer, will set out six tests for May and EU leaders to meet, including a requirement that any agreement delivers the “exact same benefits” as the UK enjoys from being inside the single market and customs union. – The Guardian EU migrants set to keep benefits after Brexit Ministers face an explosive row over migrant benefits amid claims that they are poised to violate another manifesto pledge as Theresa May fires the starting gun on Brexit this week. EU migrants who have come to Britain will continue to be paid child benefit after Brexit to send to their families back home, under plans sent to ministers last week. A paper submitted by the Department for Exiting the European Union (Dexeu) to the cabinet’s Brexit committee recommended that the 3m EU migrants in the UK when the prime minister takes the historic step of triggering article 50 should keep their rights to state handouts even after Britain leaves the EU. – The Times (£) Theresa May to announce details of British legal shake-up next week to prepare for Brexit Theresa May will this week announce she will push ahead with a major shake-up of Britain’s laws to make sure they are ready for Brexit. The Prime Minister will reveal detailed plans for how she will repeal the European Communities Act that formally took Britain into the EU 45 years ago. She will also say how ministers will convert thousands of EU laws and directives into UK law to make sure they are applicable after Brexit. Government sources said the move would ensure the UK Parliament’s sovereignty is restored by ending the power of European courts over Britain. – Daily Telegraph Remainers march against Brexit days before Article 50 triggered Tens of thousands of anti-Brexit demonstrators have gathered in central London, just days before the Government triggers Article 50 to start formal divorce procedures. The march was also a show of defiance just days after the Westminster attack, with many holding placards saying, “We are not afraid”. “Before we talk about Brexit, before we call on any of the speakers, we need to recognise that something really bad happened not far from here just the other day,” said Alastair Campbell, the former Tony Blair spin doctor and Remain campaigner. Between 25,000 and 100,000 demonstrators attended the event under a sunny sky, calling for Britain to remain in the European Union. – Sky News ‘We’ve won!’ Douglas Carswell says Ukip’s Brexit job is done as he quits the party The former Ukip MP said the “fundamental reason” for the party was to bring the UK out of the Brussels bloc and it was still time to “celebrate” achieving that goal. Theresa May will trigger Article 50 and begin the Brexit process on March 29, beginning the two-year countdown until it is complete. Mr Carswell will now become an independent member of Parliament for Clacton. Speaking on the BBC, he said: “Job done. On Wednesday Theresa May announces that she’s triggering Article 50. Ukip, my party, we were set up 23 years ago to get us out of the European Union. Job done, we’ve won. – Daily Express With Douglas Carswell gone, what’s next for UKIP? – Sky News Britain risks missing out on post-Brexit opportunities with Turkey because of poor understanding warn MPs Inadequate funding of the Foreign Office could lead to the UK missing out on the opportunities for a closer relationship with Turkey after Brexit, according to a cross-party report by MPs. Poor analysis and weaker understanding of Turkey in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office could hinder the UK’s efforts to look for trade deals outside the EU, the foreign affairs committee said. The foreign affairs committee said: “The inadequate funding provided to the FCO has led to a worrying weakening of its independent analytical capacity, and may jeopardize the UK’s ability to seize on the opportunities presented by Brexit.” – City A.M. UK food lobby calls for tariff-free post-Brexit trade with EU Industry bodies representing the U.K. food supply chain have called on the government to seek a tariff-free trade agreement with the European Union during coming Brexit negotiations. In a joint statement Sunday, the British Retail Consortium, the National Farmers Union and the Food and Drink Federation urged Prime Minister Theresa May to also ensure transitional trade agreements with the EU are in place before the U.K. leaves the bloc. “We cannot operate in isolation,” the industry groups said in the statement. “We call on the government to adopt an approach that will ensure stability and continuity for agri-food and drink businesses.” A recent report commissioned by Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc found that the U.K. imports almost half of the food it eats and that one-third of the food it consumes comes from the EU. – Bloomberg David Davis MP: Leaving the EU gives us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to forge a new role for the UK in the world In just a few days’ time, we will be on our way out of the EU. It will take several weeks for the EU to agree on its approach and for talks to get underway. And no doubt there will be tough talk and difficult moments as we start to thrash out the issues. But my pledge to Sun on Sunday readers is this: we’re going to get out there, negotiate hard, and deliver on what the people of the UK voted for. We will be ready and prepared for any outcome. But I’m confident that with cool heads, hard work and determination, we can agree a new partnership that’s in the interests of both a strong UK and a strong EU. – David Davis MP for The Sun on Sunday Guy Verhofstadt: The people of Britain should not be punished for Brexit – and the EU will make sure they aren’t I am acutely aware that there are those, both within Europe and third countries, who will seek to exaggerate differences between us in order to divide us further, but they must not prevail. That Brexit is happening is bad enough. The EU negotiating team has been clear: our intention is not to punish or sanction the British people in any way. This is why full transparency, openness in the negotiations and the role of the European Parliament will be so important. As talks proceed, the European Parliament will be fully involved and informed, as the withdrawal agreement will require our consent. – EU Parliament negotiator Guy Verhofstadt for The Independent Jeremy Warner: The war is lost, Remainers. Time to buckle down and just get on with it Nine months after the referendum, Britain finally triggers Article 50 this week, formally putting in train the process of leaving the European Union. There will be no turning back. Some Remainers still cling to the belief that once harsh economic realities are appreciated – or put another way, if the deal eventually negotiated with Europe is so bad as to make staying in the EU seem better – then people will demand a rethink. – Jeremy Warner for the Sunday Telegraph The Sunday Times: It’s the union in Europe that drove us away It was one thing for member states to pay lip service to ever-closer union in summit communiqués, quite another when it became a painful reality. The contradiction — between individual countries’ desire for sovereignty and the use of closer economic integration as a springboard for political union — remains. That, fundamentally, is the reason Britain is leaving the EU, but it is also a reflection of a long-term British failure. Too often our prime ministers have seen opt-outs and deals as victories which allowed them to put Europe to one side and get on with the challenges of domestic politics. When European politicians talked about ever-closer union, we either did not listen or did not believe. – The Sunday Times leading article (£) Telegraph View: Love it or loathe it, Brexit is happening Yesterday in Rome the EU celebrated its 60th anniversary, and it behoves a friend and neighbour to say “happy birthday”. But there are good reasons why the UK voted for Brexit, reasons that became apparent during the ceremonies. Donald Tusk said: “Only a united Europe can be a sovereign Europe.” Britain wants no part of a sovereign Europe, so we are right to leave the EU. – Sunday Telegraph Tim Wallace: Why a strong Franco-German alliance threatens a hard ride for Brexit negotiations It is not implausible to imagine greater European unity coming from this period of apparent political strife. Britain would no longer be a roadblock to a closer union, and stronger growth on the other side of the Channel could provide a boost, rather than the drag caused by the constant crises which have defined the eurozone in the past eight years. If Brexit resulted in that outcome, European elites might view the UK’s referendum in a rather different light. – Tim Wallace for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Hugo Rifkind: Jean-Claude Juncker is the worst thing about being a Remainer The worst thing about being a Remainer, though, is Jean-Claude Juncker. Indeed, I’d go further and say that he’s the worst thing about the European Union altogether. Even if the fantasists were right, and the whole thing was a Hun plan for a federal Fourth Reich, with borders collapsing and Turks taking your jobs and waves of possibly Eritrean immigrants coming off boats and setting up mosques-cum-brothels in formerly pristine Home Counties cricket pavilions. Not from the Atlantic to the mouth of the Danube, nor from Italy’s shoe to Finland’s pointy bit, would you find something more awful than Jean-Claude Juncker. He’s the pits. He really is. – Hugo Rifkind for The Spectator Simon Heffer: What about the bright side of Brexit, Auntie? Next Wednesday’s triggering of Article 50, to start Brexit, will signal a landmark day in our history. We shall have to turn our minds again to making our own way in the world. There is so much to be positive about in regard to this that I can’t grasp why it is viewed with such trepidation. Certainly the 72 MPs who complained to the BBC last week about its negative coverage of Brexit were right: having behaved pretty impeccably during the referendum, it has broadcast a predominance of doom and gloom on the subject since. Lord Hall, the Director-General, has denied any bias, but I fear he has not been listening closely enough. The so-called “liberal” mentality – it is nothing of the sort, because it believes in control rather than liberty – is behind this sense of dread that we cannot be trusted to govern ourselves, and that Brexit must be feared. – Simon Heffer for the Sunday Telegraph Brexit comment in brief Ten Thoughts from an SNP ‘Leaver’ – William Ross for Think Scotland Would ‘no deal’ be a ‘bad deal’ for British firms? – Tommy Stubbington for the The Sunday Times (£) Retail sales and inflation – John Redwood’s Diary What should we make of this inflation rise? – Liam Halligan for the Sunday Telegraph The Observer view on triggering article 50 – The Observer Brexit’s a bigger test than terror for May – Adam Boulton for the Sunday Times (£) Brexit news in brief Quality feat: British goods rank below EU’s but beat Japan – The Times (£) Turkey may hold Brexit-style vote over EU membership – ITV News Deluded Brexit crusader Gina Miller: ‘I always saw myself as Super Woman’ – Talk Radio Cabinet ministers warned social care crisis could exacerbate if UK pensioners return from abroad over Brexit – Sunday Telegraph UK can’t blame EU for problems that led to Brexit, says Juncker – The Guardian London must remain open to the world – The Guardian