Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May to call on voters to unite behind the “great national mission” of delivering Brexit… Theresa May will pitch herself today as the unifying leader of a “great national mission” as she seeks to rise above accusations of political cowardice after refusing to take part in a debate with the other party leaders. The prime minister will seek to counter accusations of hubris and arrogance after her climbdown on social care, saying: “I have said many times in the past — people can have faith in me because I have faith in them.” – The Times (£) Theresa May makes Eurosceptic pitch and says Tory government would free UK from ‘shackles of EU’ – PoliticsHome Corbyn says it was “inappropriate” for May to conjure up image of him naked in the negotiating chamber – Telegraph …as she promises to “work with the grain of business” and protect cross-border trade after Brexit… Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed to work “with the grain of business and industry” as she seeks a Brexit deal with the least possible disruption to firms trading across borders. May has refocused her election campaign on her ability to handle Brexit and, with just over a week before polling day, she has reiterated her goal of a tariff-free trade deal and “frictionless” borders with Europe. – City A.M. …as David Davis says it is ‘rubbish’ to say May was scared of TV debate Brexit Secretary David Davis dismisses claims that the Prime Minister is too scared to attend a live TV debate with Jeremy Corbyn and other party leaders. He says the Labour leader changed his mind on appearing and that Theresa May has taken more questions from the public than Mr Corbyn. – Channel 4 News May: I’m focusing on Brexit rather than TV appearances – Sky News Tory poll lead falls to three points as Rudd comes out fighting in TV debate – The Times (£) Plaid’s Leanne Wood grills UKIP’s Paul Nuttall during TV debate: Would you not pay your dues in a real divorce? – IBTimes Brussels prepared to postpone start of Brexit talks if Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister Brussels is prepared to postpone the start of the Brexit negotiations if Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister and needs more time to prepare for the historic event… A European Commission source has admitted they would be prepared to allow a further postponement to the talks if the new government requests one. Asked whether there would be scope to delay the start of talks, the source said: “They have got to agree the date, so yes. “If the UK was to turn around and say, ‘we need a bit of leeway’ – we don’t have a lot of leeway in the big scheme of things. “There are only a number of months – less than two years – to do this, so there isn’t a terrible lot of scope. But the Commission will agree with the UK the dates for the first negotiating sessions.” – PoliticsHome Hand over £1bn more, EU chiefs tell Britain: Brussels outlines huge increase in spending despite UK’s decision to leave Brussels expects the UK to pay an extra £1billion to the EU next year, documents have revealed. In a controversial move, EU officials have outlined a huge increase in spending, which they expect the UK to help fund despite voting to leave. Calls for British taxpayers to pay even more into the bloc’s annual budget will infuriate Eurosceptics amid the ongoing row over the huge Brexit bill being demanded by Brussels. – Daily Mail UK will not get special treatment post-Brexit, warns EU financial market regulator The European Union’s financial markets regulator has issued a warning to EU member states not to begin a “race to the bottom” to attract business when the UK leaves the bloc. The opinion, published by the European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma), aims to “support supervisory convergence” as financial players potentially seek to relocate from the UK post-Brexit. – City A.M. After Brexit: the UK will need to renegotiate at least 759 treaties When Britain leaves the EU in 2019, the UK stands to lose far more than it brought over to Brussels that day. The treaty chest has swollen into a small archive of EU agreements, running to hundreds of thousands of pages and spanning 168 non-EU countries. Within them are covered almost every external function of a modern economy, from flying planes to America and trading sows with Iceland to fishing in far-flung seas… Through analysis of the EU treaty database, the FT found 759 separate EU bilateral agreements with potential relevance to Britain, covering trade in nuclear goods, customs, fisheries, trade, transport and regulatory co-operation in areas such as antitrust or financial services. – FT (£) Outrage as Remoaner Lib Dem candidate brands Brexiters as ‘f***wits’ Liberal Democrat hopeful Stephen Gilbert has sparked outrage after he branded all Brexiters “f***wits” in a rant on Facebook. The 40-year-old was elected the MP for St Austell and Newquay in 2010 with a slim majority of 1,312 but lost the seat to the Conservatives at the 2015 general election… Jayne Adye, the Director of cross-party Eurosceptic group Get Britain Out told Express.co.uk: “How on earth can any prospective parliamentary candidate be so out of touch with the voters in the constituency he hopes to succeed in?” – Express Rush for citizenship as EU migrants fear ‘hard’ Brexit… Applications to become British by citizens of other EU countries have more than tripled during the past year, marking a surge since the Brexit vote. Thousands of people who had been living in the country for years have rushed to obtain a UK passport amid fears that their position in Britain has weakened. Since the referendum result there has been a steady increase in applications. The number of EU applicants reached 9,400 in the first quarter of this year, three times as many as in the same period last year. Applicants from the founding EU states, including France, Germany and Italy, more than quadruped to 4,790. It was the highest such figure in at least seven years. – Times (£) …as Europeans living in Britain ‘could have super-rights’ European nationals in Britain could become “a super-privileged caste” entitled to more rights than Britons after Brexit, a former judge at the European Court of Justice has warned. Franklin Dehousse said that demands from Brussels, including that the court retain supremacy over British law to enforce rights for EU nationals, threaten to derail a final deal. “It is dangerous. Loading the boat excessively . . . generates conflicts and makes a final deal less likely,” he said. – Times (£) Sweep border poll off the agenda, DUP urges voters The DUP outlined how it intends to fight for the best deal possible for Northern Ireland after Brexit. It wants to see the maintenance of the common travel area and no internal borders with other parts of the UK. – Times (£) European Commission moots creation of EU finance minister The way in which the eurozone is governed would be radically altered if plans unveiled by the European Commission on Wednesday come to fruition. Under the proposals, the EU’s informal gathering of eurozone finance ministers — the Eurogroup — could grow in stature to promote further integration among the 19 countries that use the single currency. The plans call for merging the jobs of president of the Eurogroup and the European commissioner responsible for the economic and monetary union (EMU). That person would in effect (and perhaps even in title) be an EU finance minister. – Politico Britons Choose ‘Bed and Brexit’ Family-friendly locations have seen a dramatic 56.9% uplift. A combination of a low pound, the Brexit vote and the triggering of Article 50 has delivered a surge in bookings at Britain’s world-famous Bed and Breakfasts. Analysis of booking data from more than 5,000 Bed and Breakfasts carried out by eviivo, the leading online booking specialist for independent hotels and B&Bs, indicates that forward bookings are up 19.2% year on year compared with the same pre-Brexit-vote period. – Economic Voice Daniel Hannan MEP: Don’t leave Brexit talks to a divided and unprepared Labour and a leader who doesn’t know what he wants Imagine that you’re buying a second-hand car. As you sit down opposite the dealer, you say: “Look, before we start, I want you to know that there’s no way I’m leaving without buying your vehicle. Now let’s talk about the money.” Would he welcome your positive attitude and cut his price — or would he thank his lucky stars and take you for every penny? You might think I’m being silly. Surely no one would be so idiotic as to enter negotiations without a bottom line. But that’s exactly what Jeremy Corbyn proposes to do in the Brexit talks. – Daniel Hannan MEP for The Sun FT: The safer bet of a Conservative vote When Theresa May called a snap general election, many assumed the prime minister and her ruling Conservative party would romp home. Armed with a decisive mandate, Mrs May would be in the strongest possible position to open Brexit negotiations, the biggest national challenge since 1945. With one week to go before polling day, the 2017 campaign has not gone to script. The polls have tightened. Far from being strong and stable, Mrs May has looked curiously brittle. She has failed to offer a credible picture of what life outside the EU’s single market and customs union will look like, let alone the economic trade-offs that will inevitably form part of the Brexit end-game. The opposition Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership has been equally vague. Both sides have engaged in a conspiracy of silence… Faced with such uncertainty at home and abroad, Mrs May is the safer bet. – FT editorial (£) Why Project Fear 2.0 will do nothing to help the Brexit negotiations Project Fear, as last year’s Remain referendum campaign was so successfully dubbed by Brexiteers, was a failure because it failed to strike sufficient fear into the hearts of the voters. A year after Brexit, the sky has still not fallen, and the worst of the Treasury’s dire predictions – the recession, the 500,000 job losses – have still not come to pass. Project Fear 2.0 is more amorphous than the original version since it is not propagated by the Government this time, but it paints a similarly catastrophic and unbelievable picture of the ‘no deal’ and the ‘bad deal’ scenarios for Brexit. – Peter Foster for the Telegraph (£) The Sun: The UK can’t afford to jeopardise the fate of Brexit on the hopelessly weak Corbyn and his gang of second-rate leftie sycophants When Brits troop to the polls on June 8 they should have one word at the front of their minds: Brexit. Because how we leave the European Union will affect every square inch of this country — from schools and hospitals, to housing and transport. Britain took a historic step when we became the first EU member to reject rule from Brussels. It’s a decision The Sun championed and one we remain confident will benefit the UK in the long run. But only if our exit negotiations are led by the strongest possible team, pushing for the best possible terms. – The Sun Katya Adler: UK’s red letter day awaited in Brussels – with Brexit talks looming It’s now almost a year since the UK blind-sided the EU by voting to leave the club. Almost twelve whole calendar months. And the sum total of face-to-face negotiations between the two sides to date? Zero. Perfectly explicable in political circles, though baffling for much of the general public. That’s why, on both sides of the Channel, 8 June is a red-letter day. Not only is it general election time for the UK, but here in Brussels, it means finally starting Brexit negotiations – once the new British government is in place. The first day of EU-UK Brexit talks is expected to be 19 June. And they will focus around who will meet, how often, in which country, discussing which aspects of Brexit in which order. And how prepared are the two sides? – Katya Adler for BBC News Brexit in brief The Brexit election that leaves Britain the loser – Philip Stevens for the FT (£) Germany’s declining respect for the UK – Tony Barber for the FT (£) Pound jumps above $1.29 after new poll shows Conservatives extend lead over Labour, as FTSE 100 enjoys best month this year – Telegraph Where each party stands on Brexit – Telegraph Jeremy Corbyn refuses to rule out Labour coalition deal with SNP – Telegraph UK space firms may need EU units after Brexit: space chief in FT – Reuters UK markets watchdog asks asset managers for their Brexit plans – Reuters ‘How will she negotiate Brexit?’ Gina Miller tries to bash PM for refusing TV debate – Express Brussels lays out plan to shore up euro and stop ‘dangerous populism’ – Telegraph Keeping the trade door open after Brexit – Times (£) UK’s muddled migration thinking – Politico Nick Clegg willing to ‘share expertise’ during Brexit negotiations – Daily Echo UKIP Scotland launch election manifesto – BBC News