Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team EU leaders unanimously agree guidelines for Brexit talks… The leaders of 27 European Union countries have unanimously agreed guidelines for the EU’s negotiating stance in upcoming Brexit talks with the UK. The negotiations will not start in earnest until after the UK’s snap general election on 8 June, but European leaders met at a special summit in Brussels today to agree on the plan of action for when talks begin. European Council president Donald Tusk first issued the negotiating guidelines for the 27 leaders on 31 March. – City A.M. …but Theresa May rejects Brussels’ hardline Brexit demands Theresa May has dismissed a series of hardline Brexit demands from Brussels as politicians on both sides of the Channel warned that the talks could turn nasty. The Prime Minister said requests formally agreed by EU leaders were simply a negotiating position. Mrs May insisted she was sticking to her own demands outlined in a speech earlier this year which included tariff-free trade, ending the jurisdiction of European courts and stopping free movement of migrants. When asked about mounting fears the UK could be “bullied by Brussels” she claimed that voters re-electing her was the best way to secure a good deal. – Sunday Telegraph EU Brexit guidelines: What’s in the document, and what it really means – Sunday Telegraph ‘Phased approach’: How to read EU Brexit guidelines – Reuters Britain ‘underestimates’ Brexit challenge, Jean-Claude Juncker says – Sky News Donald Tusk promises to deal ‘firmly’ with Britain as EU leaders unanimously agree Brexit negotiating stance – Sunday Telegraph Donald Tusk urges EU partners to stay united in the face of Brexit – City A.M. Rights of EU citizens are ‘top priority’ as member states agree on negotiation tactics, Donald Tusk says – Evening Standard UK’s Brexit bill will be 40-60 billion euros, Luxembourg’s Bettel claims – Bloomberg For EU27, the hard part of Brexit starts now Now the hard part begins, and the risk of cracks is already clear in how countries have begun jockeying for the two EU agencies, the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority, that will move out of London. “Mike Tyson said ‘the battle plan doesn’t survive the first punch in the nose,’” a senior EU diplomat said. Actually, it was Joe Louis who said “everybody has a plan until they get hit.” But point taken. The punches are coming. The risk of disagreement among the EU 27 on detailed aspects of the Brexit negotiations is high, largely because the interests of individual countries in the Brexit talks diverge as much as they do on any other issue. – Politico EU leaders want to avoid hard border on island of Ireland… European Union leaders have said they want to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland as part of its Brexit negotiating guidelines with the UK. The 27 EU leaders unanimously agreed on Saturday the guidelines issued in March by European Council President Donald Tusk. In a letter to the leaders of the EU-27 ahead of the summit, Mr Tusk wrote that progress on “people, money and Ireland” must come before negotiations on the EU’s future relationship with the UK. – BBC News …and say a united Ireland would be an automatic full member… European Union leaders promised on Saturday to embrace the British province of Northern Ireland into the EU if a referendum in the future were to unite it with the Republic of Ireland. At a summit on the EU’s plan for negotiating with Britain as it leaves the bloc, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny asked fellow members to acknowledge that Northern Ireland would, like East Germany in 1990, automatically enter the EU in the event of unification with existing member state. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement to end violence in Northern Ireland foresees the holding of referendums on both sides of the border on uniting the island if London and Dublin see public support for that. – Reuters …while Gibraltar is angry at EU demanding Spanish veto on its inclusion in UK trade deal Gibraltar has reacted angrily to the European Union’s continuing insistence that Spain should be given a veto over its inclusion in any post-Brexit trade deal with the UK. Chief minister Fabian Picardo said the stipulation in the EU’s final negotiating guidelines that Spain, which also claims sovereignty over the British territory, must agree to its inclusion in any future trade agreement was discriminatory and unfair. He said the people of Gibraltar would resist any attempt by Spain to further its stale claim of the Rock, as EU leaders at a summit in Brussels agreed their final position for exit talks with the UK. – BT News Japan’s premier will ‘continue to trust British economy after Brexit’ Japan’s prime minister has said he will “continue to trust” the UK’s economy after Brexit has taken place, as he states that maintaining an open Europe is a matter of concern to the world. Shinzo Abe also said Kim Jong Un’s continued launches were a “clear challenge against the international community”, hours after new ballistic missile tests were carried out by North Korea. Mr Abe made the statements at central London’s Dorchester Hotel following a meeting with Theresa May at Chequers on Friday. After talks at her country retreat, Mrs May hailed Japan as “our closest Asian security partner” and an important economic ally, as she noted that 1,000 Japanese companies including Honda, Hitachi and Mitsubishi employ 14,000 people in Britain. – AOL UKIP leader Nuttall to stand in pro-Brexit stronghold at the election The leader of eurosceptic party UKIP will stand in the constituency of Boston and Skegness in Britain’s general election in June, the party said on Saturday, seeking to capitalise on strong pro-Brexit sentiment in the area. Paul Nuttall will stand in the Conservative-held seat, and will test the extent to which the country’s most eurosceptic areas trust British Prime Minister Theresa May’s party with the Brexit process. UKIP was a driving force in the campaign for Britain to leave the EU, but has seen support nearly halve since the June 2016 referendum delivered the one of the party’s main goals. The party currently has no elected MPs in parliament. – Reuters Sturgeon made error in trying to ‘weaponise Brexit’, says Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon made a basic error in trying to “weaponise Brexit”, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has said. The MSP said that Ms Sturgeon also made a “huge mistake” in pretending that a remain vote is a “proxy for independence”. The Tory also agreed that nationalism is seen to be “on the wane”. She told LBC Radio: “I think that Nicola Sturgeon has made a couple of very basic errors and I think the first one that she did was to try and weaponise Brexit and showed that all she cares about is independence because there are lots of issues that Brexit throws up but none of them are answered by splitting up the UK which is Scotland’s biggest market, closest ally and greatest friend.” – Evening Express May warned over EU law on Brexit Theresa May has been warned of a fresh challenge in the courts over Brexit by a retired Scottish doctor, who claims the law requires there to be a second referendum on any withdrawal agreement. Dr Andrew Watt has sent a letter before action — usually the first step in taking disputes to court — to the prime minister, arguing that section 2 of the European Union Act 2011 requires a referendum before the UK can ratify any treaty that amends or replaces the EU or the functioning of the EU. The act was designed to trigger a referendum in the event of a new EU treaty which would transfer powers to the bloc from the UK. – The Sunday Times (£) Meet Shanker Singham – the trade talks guru urging a hard break with Brussels The British establishment decamped from Westminster and headed across the Thames last week. As politicians, executives and academics — from both sides of the Brexit divide — milled around at a conference in County Hall, they were talking about one man more than most. Shanker Singham, who works at the Legatum Institute think tank, has risen rapidly to become one of the most influential figures in forging Britain’s post-Brexit trade policy. Singham, 48, holds regular meetings with Brexit secretary David Davis and international trade secretary Liam Fox, promoting his vision of a liberalised Britain pursuing free trade around the globe. He advocates a hard form of Brexit, with Britain firmly outside the EU’s single market and customs union. Singham says that during a 20-year career in America he helped the US negotiate deals with Colombia, Panama, Singapore, and even TTIP — the ill-fated US-EU trade accord. – The Sunday Times (£) > BrexitCentral podcast with Shanker Singham: Going Global: How to forge a truly Global Britain City mayors could head off post-Brexit divisions Britain’s leading expert on social cohesion has backed calls for a radical new approach to heal deepening divisions in the post-Brexit-vote era. Professor Ted Cantle, author of a groundbreaking report commissioned by the government after the 2001 race riots in northern England, has backed calls for the mayors of the six new city regions being created across England in local elections on Thursday to appoint deputies responsible for improving relations between different community groups. The approach has been adopted by a number of major global cities with considerable success. “We need unity more than ever to respond to those that seek to create divisions,” Cantle said. “Deputy mayors can begin to build bridges and create a real sense of belonging in their areas and, most of all, to develop practical actions to help all communities come to terms with change and build a common purpose.” – The Observer Decision on EU agencies relocation from UK likely in October The European Union looks set to decide in October where to relocate the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority, now based in London, after Brexit. EU leaders talked about the relocation issue “for five minutes” when they met in Brussels on Saturday to discuss the Brexit negotiating guidelines, said Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. European Council President Donald Tusk proposed at the summit that EU leaders should agree in June on what criteria to use for the relocations, then take the final decision in the fall, Iohannis said. – Politico Liam Halligan: The UK can afford to reject a bad EU trade deal Having last week announced his intention to leave Parliament after 34 years, former cabinet minister Peter Lilley used his final Prime Minister’s Questions to wish Theresa May “Godspeed”. The MP for Hitchen and Harpenden also asked his party leader if she still recognised, when it came to the UK’s Article 50 negotiations, “that to get a reasonable deal we must accept that no deal is better than a bad deal”? May famously used this phrase in her pivotal Lancaster House speech on Brexit in January. In contrast to her predecessor, who foolishly declared up front his support for Remain in last summer’s referendum on European Union membership, whatever the outcome of his “renegotiation”, May took a much tougher line. – Liam Halligan for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Simon Heffer: These Euro-fanatics seem to lack any self-knowledge Another pitiful spectacle last week was the Open Britain initiative on tactical voting, spearheaded by Peter Mandelson and endorsed by Tony Blair, falling to pieces when the Tory MPs with whom it was associated deserted in horror at the thought having to endorse attacks on their colleagues. One Tory who has lingered is the nonentity Stephen Dorrell, no longer an MP but a Eurofanatic who is happy to wreck his party at the behest of a foreign power. Lord Mandelson and Mr Blair are not nonentities, but they seem to lack self-knowledge. Lord Mandelson was twice disgraced and had to resign from the government, and is bound by the terms of his pension as a former Commissioner to talk up the EU at all times. The public do not hold him in high regard. – Simon Heffer for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Sunday Telegraph: The EU is a bully The EU is a bully, according to Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister, in an interview with this newspaper. Mr Varoufakis might be a socialist and this is, of course, his personal opinion, but much of what he tells us has been confirmed in the last week by the EU’s actions. Mr Varoufakis says that the EU will exploit any internal political friction in the UK. As if on cue, Donald Tusk has implied that the future of Ireland must be on the table in the coming Brexit talks. This is absurd. It is in everyone’s interests to address the border issues arising from Brexit, but the sovereignty of Northern Ireland is a matter internal to the UK, or else a bilateral question between London and Dublin. – Sunday Telegraph editorial The Sun: The EU has blinked first and shown their hand – now we must cleverly play ours So now we know where we stand. Since Brexit was triggered, Britain’s intention has been clear and honest — to negotiate a fair deal with Europe. But yesterday the EU’s puffed-up leaders showed their true colours. That cosy, self-serving club flipped a massive finger at the people of this country. Instead of engaging like grown-ups they took just four minutes to lay down the law. Pass a “divorce” Bill, protect rights of EU citizens in the UK, sort out the Northern Ireland border issue. No agreement on money, no talk on trade. Their terms, not ours. – The Sun on Sunday says Jane Merrick: Corbyn had no Brexit policy for far too long – now Labour will pay the price If there is a third Labour leadership contest in as many years this summer – and with suggestions that Jeremy Corbyn might cling on even in the event of a Tory landslide, this is not a foregone conclusion – Keir Starmer is expected to run. When – if – that time comes, we will look back on his speech setting out Labour’s policy on Brexit as a measure of whether he is up to the job. It is extraordinary that it has taken a snap General Election to finally get clarity out of the Labour Party on the biggest issue facing the country. It’s not like this is something that could have waited until 2020, when the next election was originally scheduled, because the UK would have been out of the EU for at least a year. But there’s nothing like a looming deadline of millions of voters going to the polls to get your Brexit ducks in a row. – Jane Merrick for IBTimes Brexit comment in brief If May wins by a landslide it’s not about Brexit – she just lucked out with her opposition – Alastair Campbell for IBTimes We in the EU intend to protect our citizens’ rights after Brexit – if that means holding British feet to the fire, so be it – Sophia In ‘t Veld for The Independent Gina Miller and Best4Britain consider backing the SNP, a party dedicated to breaking up Britain – Iain Martin for Reaction Brexit news in brief Theresa May warned of fresh court challenge over Brexit as ‘law requires second referendum’ on any agreement – The Independent ‘If I were Prime Minister…’ Slough voters tell HuffPost UK-Edelman their priorities – Huffington Post Hard Brexit could trigger financial crash worse than 2008, says Vince Cable – Evening Standard UK plc pauses for breath in countdown to Brexit – The Sunday Times (£)