Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team UK reportedly set to be bound by European Convention on Human Rights until at least 2022 Britain will be bound by European human rights laws for another five years with the Conservatives expected to abandon a pledge to withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights. Theresa May, who served as home secretary from 2010 to 2016, said last year she wanted to quit the ECHR, which for a time frustrated her plans to extradite the hate preacher Abu Qatada. Mrs May was expected to write the commitment into the Conservative manifesto meaning that Britain would be committed to withdrawing by the end of the next parliament, in 2022. However senior Government figures have told The Telegraph they expect Mrs May to drop the commitment because it would be a major distraction for her Government from the Brexit negotiations. It means that Britain is now likely to be bound by European human rights laws for at least another five years. – Daily Telegraph Juncker and Barnier stoney-faced after crunch talks with Theresa May last night The duo entered Number 10 with a grin for a working dinner to discuss Brexit this evening but left after an hour and 45 minutes looking like Mrs May had really put them through their paces. Without looking at the awaiting photographers, EU Commission President Mr Juncker gave a perfunctory wave as he strode purposefully towards his car, with Mr Barnier following closely behind. The two then encountered an awkward moment when they both attempted to get into the same side of the car before Mr Juncker ordered his colleague to go to the other door. Mrs May, Mr Juncker and Mr Barnier were joined by Brexit secretary David Davis as they sat down for a working dinner to discuss the draft Brexit agreement drawn up by EU Council President Donald Tusk, who was not present at Downing Street today. – Daily Express Reuters quoted a Commission spokeswoman saying they discussed the process of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. On Saturday, EU leaders meet to agree their key negotiating principles based on draft guidelines issued last month. Official talks will not begin until after the general election on 8 June. The UK is on course to leave the EU in March 2019, after Mrs May triggered Article 50 last month. Mr Barnier, a former EU Commissioner, has said Brexit negotiations must be concluded within 18 months to allow for any settlement to be approved by the UK, other EU members and the European Parliament. The EU wants the terms of the UK’s exit to be decided before any discussion of a future trade relationship while Mrs May wants to the two issues to be dealt with simultaneously. – BBC Theresa May meets EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier at Downing Street – Daily Mail EU toughens its Brexit negotiating stance as Juncker and Barnier head to Downing Street talks with Theresa May – The Independent David Davis tells Prosperity UK Conference that the UK has ‘a very good reason to feel optimistic’ David Davis insisted Britain has “a very good reason to feel optimistic” about upcoming Brexit talks as the Prime Minister prepares to meet EU bosses today. Theresa May will host European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier for a working dinner at Downing Street tonight.Ahead of their meeting, Brexit Secretary Mr Davis dismissed Remain supporters claims Britain and the EU face numerous obstacles to agreeing an exit deal. Speaking at a Prosperity UK conference in central London, the Cabinet minister said: “Some are determined, for their own reasons, to focus on the differences between us, and seize on every potential hurdle to success. “But the UK has a very good reason to feel optimistic. “The discussions I have had confirmed to me that on both sides, negotiations with our European partners will be conducted in a spirit of sincere cooperation. “It is a spirit we have shared through our common history.”- Daily Express UK not seeking divide and rule approach in Brexit talks – Daily Mail David Davis promises swift deal to protect EU citizens in UK – The Guardian Davis insists the election will not slow down Brexit work – Daily Mail Gina Miller raises £300,000 to fund tactical support for anti-Brexit election candidates Gina Miller, the campaigner behind the successful supreme court Brexit challenge, has raised £300,000 in crowdfunding to directly support up to 100 pro-Europe candidates in her tactical voting election initiative. Miller confirmed she would not be standing for election herself but said the money would be given directly to candidates believed to have a chance of defeating politicians supporting Theresa May’s hard Brexit strategy. At the launch of her Best for Britain tactical voting campaign, she said she was overwhelmed by the support it had received so far. She said donations from 10,000 people reflected a grassroots appetite for a meaningful opposition to the Conservative government. – The Guardian Jonathan Isaby, Editor of the BrexitCentral website, pointed to polling which suggests that even Remain voters want ministers to get on with the process of withdrawal from the EU. “Gina Miller seems sadly still to be in denial of the referendum result,” he said. “Ms Miller’s money and energy would be far better spent getting behind efforts to secure the best possible Brexit deal along the lines that people backed in unprecedented numbers last June.” – The i Anti-Brexit entrepreneur launches tactical voting campaign – Associated Press Branson bankrolls Gina Miller’s bid to oust Brexit MPs – Daily Mail Gina Miller defends Brexit election fund – BBC > WATCH: BrexitCentral Editor Jonathan Isaby vs Gina Miller on Channel Four News EU should stop squeezing UK for ‘divorce settlement’ and focus on trade deal, says CBI European leaders should stop focusing on securing a hefty “divorce settlement” from the UK and start hammering out a post-Brexit a trade deal, Britain’s leading business group will say on Thursday. Businesses across Europe want the closest possible economic relationship post-Brexit, Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the Confederation of British Industry will say in a speech at Cambridge University. Ms Fairbairn will call on European decision-makers to listen to companies in their respective countries, many of which want politicians to “get on with discussing a new trading relationship”, rather than squeezing Britain. – Independent Boris Johnson says Prime Minister can usher in ‘a new era’ of free trade deals Foreign secretary Boris Johnson has waded into the General Election campaign for the first time by launching a broadside at Labour and committing the government to a free trade agenda at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet. Addressing an audience of ambassadors at the Mansion House, Johnson said the UK will be “the foremost campaigner for global free trade”. On Brexit, the foreign secretary said “negotiations will be tough and some plaster may fall off the ceiling” but added that “[Prime Minister] Theresa May can pull it off”, claming that May will “usher in a new era of free trade deals”.”Those free trade deals will be good for UK manufacturers and exporters. Then, in the virtuous circle of free trade, that extra growth and prosperity – that extra spending cash – will make the UK an even more successful export market for our friends and partners in Europe and around the world,” he said. – City A.M Boris Johnson stands by £350million Vote Leave bus message – Metro Boris Johnson makes first major appearance of election campaign.- The Guardian Boris Johnson says ‘some plaster may fall off the ceiling’ during negotiations – Independent Boris Johnson backs Theresa May’s Brexit credentials – SkyNews Boris Johnson is popular with voters and does not deserve to be sidelined – Daily Telegraph Editorial Why hide Boris Johnson away when he can electrify the Tory base? – Rupert Myers for The Daily Telegraph Brexit vote drained the poison from politics, claims Cameron David Cameron has claimed credit for draining the “poison” from British politics with a Brexit referendum that has made the Tories the strongest party in western Europe. Although he regretted the “personal consequences” of June 23 he said that anger at the EU had been “legitimate” and that the vote had helped to defeat populism. “I loved being prime minister. I thought I was doing a reasonable job,” Mr Cameron said at a tourism conference in Bangkok today. “But I think it was the right thing. The lack of a referendum was poisoning British politics and so I put that right.” The former prime minister, 50, also said that Theresa May had been right to call a snap election, hinting that he believed a new five-year term would enable her to make politically challenging compromises with Brussels. – The Times (£) David Cameron: Brexit vote ended a ‘poisoning’ of UK politics – The Guardian David Cameron says UK must agree £50 billion Brexit divorce bill before trade talks start – Daily Express Immigration policy key to success, says Barclays boss Setting the right immigration policy after Brexit may be more important to securing London’s role as the global capital of finance than retaining a banking passport into the European Union, according to the chief executive of Barclays. Jes Staley, 60, said that the City’s long-term success would depend on ensuring that there continued to be a deep pool of talent available in the UK, particularly in technology. The decision late last year by Alphabet, the Google business, to base 7,000 engineers in London, making the city its second largest centre for technology application development outside Palo Alto, “may be the single biggest event that has happened since Brexit”, Mr Staley said. – The Times (£) City veteran warns EU against plot to seize euro-clearing Shifting euro-clearing away from Britain and into the eurozone would be a “deeply, deeply bad event” that could cripple European firms, City veteran Michael Spencer has warned. Speaking to an audience in London yesterday, Mr Spencer said that such a move would make it impossible for eurozone institutions to access London clearing of the euro and be a “return to currency protectionism and nationalism, which would be a deeply, deeply bad event”.Euro-clearing has been a key issue for the financial sector ever since Britain’s European Union referendum vote, with European politicians arguing that EU derivatives should be cleared in Europe rather than London following Brexit. – Daily Telegraph Two SNP MPs defy party leadership to sign pro-Brexit fishing pledge Two SNP MPs who face a surge in Conservative support in their seats signed a petition supporting the UK pulling out of the EU and the hated Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Despite the Nationalists’ official policy being in favour of remaining in both, Eilidh Whiteford and Mike Weir added their names to a pledge tabled by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation that stated that Brexit presented the industry with a “sea of opportunity.” Dr Whiteford is the MP for Banff and Buchan, which includes the major fishing ports of Fraserburgh and Peterhead and was one of the few areas of Scotland that voted for Brexit. – Daily Telegraph Jeremy Corbyn failed UK `in hour of need´, Tim Farron says Tim Farron has turned his fire on Jeremy Corbyn over his handling of Brexit as he sought to get the Liberal Democrat campaign back on track. The Lib Dem leader claimed Mr Corbyn and shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer had “failed Britain” by refusing to stand up for the rights of European Union citizens. Mr Farron, who was campaigning in Labour-held and Remain-supporting Cambridge, said Labour had behaved “shamefully” during the passage of the legislation allowing Theresa May to trigger Article 50. – Daily Mail German officials claim Brexit might be delayed because tiny regional parliaments like Wallonia could get vote on final deal German officials claim Brexit might be delayed because even tiny regional parliaments like Wallonia could get a vote on the final deal. Analysis for the country’s parliament says giving every one of the remaining 27 nations a say on the UK-EU agreement risks keeping us in the bloc for even longer. The conclusions from the research service for the Bundestag are also backed by a senior MP in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat party. They say although any ‘divorce’ deal can be done by just London and Brussels, the agreement on the future relationship will have to be ratified by not only the national parliaments but some of the regional parliaments too. This is because it would have to become a so-called “mixed agreement”, affecting both EU and national legislation, according to the analysis obtained by the website POLITICO. – The Sun EU deletes Britain from maps of Europe THE extent to which the triggering of Article 50 has altered EU policy making became clear today as the bloc omitted Britain from a series of maps laying out its flagship social policy.The UK was conspicuously greyed out as a non-EU country in material the EU Commission has produced to advertise the launch of its keystone Pillar of Social Rights. Britain, which has more domestic labour protections than most European countries, is not mentioned in part of the planning for what Brussels boss Jean-Claude Juncker has described as his most important policy. The stark omission demonstrates how the EU plans to press ahead with its agenda without the UK, which will regardless continue to pay into the bloc’s budget for at least the next two years. – Daily Express Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Britain needs fighting ‘Plan B’ for trade as EU turns screws on Brexit The European Union is hardening its terms on Brexit. There is a new hint of hostility in the language. The tone is peremptory. Those of us who hoped that Germany would push quietly for an amicable settlement can no longer be so confident. We now learn from Handelsblatt that the German finance ministry insisted on some of the most unfriendly changes to the EU’s latest working documents. Berlin stipulated that Britain must honour “all obligations” (Verpflichtungen) for divorce payments, a tougher wording than the earlier, gentler talk of legal and budgetary “duties” (Pflichten). It demanded that Britain desist from tax dumping and financial deregulation that would “jeopardize the stability of the union”. This demand is almost insulting. British regulators have led efforts to recapitalize banks. It is the eurozone and Germany that have dragged their feet on tougher capital rules. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard for The Daily Telegraph Mark Wallace: Open Britain betrays its supporters’ trust For perfectly valid reasons, some Conservatives will have signed up to Open Britain, the rebranded Remain campaign. Perhaps they agreed with one or more of its aims when it was (re-)launched – supporting a unilateral pledge to give the EU citizens the automatic right to remain in the UK, for example, or opposing changes to employment legislation. They might reasonably have wanted to support a “cross-party” pressure group making the case for a specific type of Brexit.More than a few such subscribers to Open Britain have been surprised, therefore, to find that the organisation is now actively campaign for and against particular candidates in the General Election. Indeed, the Conservative MPs who put their names to it have withdrawn their support because “it is untenable for us to play any further role in an organisation, such as Open Britain, which is advocating campaigning against Conservative MPs or candidates”. – Mark Wallace for ConservativeHome John Redwood MP: Dear Mr Juncker, Brexit isn’t a divorce so the EU can forget alimony I do not understand why some in the EU Commission seem to think the UK owes the bloc any money on leaving. The UK is not seeking a divorce from Europe. It is a silly misrepresentation. We are surrendering our membership of the European Union, but expect to have strong and positive ties with the rest of Europe after we have left. There will be much trade, many joint ventures, common research, shared campaigns in international politics, cultural, academic and business links.I have great news for our EU partners. Because it is no divorce, there is nothing in the EU treaties which gives the UK a claim on the assets Brussels has built up during our period of membership. It is true we have made a big financial contribution, which has in part been invested in buildings and other stores of value. We lose that. Because it is no divorce and we have no children, the EU does not have to pay us maintenance in the future either. – John Redwood MP for The Daily Telegraph Robert Colvile: How can Britain get fit for Brexit? “I’m tired of fighting old battles,” said one of Britain’s highest-profile Remainers as he swept past me in the corridors of County Hall. “It’s time to move on.” Since the Brexit referendum, British politics has been overwhelmingly interpreted through the prism of Remain vs Leave. The coming general election is seen in some quarters as, effectively, a rerun of that contest, with Tony Blair and friends leading the tattered remnants of Remain in one last, doomed charge against Theresa May’s triumphant Leavers. But outside of Westminster, it is increasingly clear that the agenda has indeed moved on. If Brexit was a shock to the body politic, the antibodies have started to work. Yesterday, for example, the great and the good of the business world assembled for the Prosperity UK conference. Spearheaded by the Leave-Remain duo of Sir Paul Marshall and Lord Hill (with support from the Legatum Institute and Open Europe), it was deliberately constructed to be both pro-business and post-Brexit. – Robert Colvile for CapX Asa Bennett: Whatever Theresa May agrees as a Brexit bill, she’ll struggle to convince the public it is value for money Britain’s membership of the European Union is far more important than your membership of a golf club or a gym, but it does have one similarity: the departing member is obliged to pay their dues before closing their account. Leaving a gym tends not to involve an argument with the administrators and other members how much you precisely owe. Your membership ends when it is set to end, and then you’re free to exercise elsewhere. Theresa May can only dream of such simplicity in the Brexit process. The Prime Minister has to untangle Britain from the EU’s multi-year budgetary process. Brussels plans its budgetary spending over seven years, with the latest plan ending in 2020, so it had expected British contributions to be made as promised. EU chiefs fear that if Britain doesn’t pay its dues, then they’ll have to pick up a tab for as much as €10bn. Mrs May will no doubt hear a lot about the importance of her paying up when she dines with Jean Claude-Juncker and Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator, tonight. – Asa Bennett for the Daily Telegraph Mark Milke: Theresa May is right: Let the British be British With the snap, surprise election called by British Prime Minister Theresa May to seek a firmer mandate to negotiate her country’s exit from the European Union, expect more lectures on why Ms. May and British voters should reverse course on “Little England” impulses. Such caterwauling started with last June’s Brexit vote. That was the referendum that began the British breakaway from the ever-tighter political and economic union coalescing on the continent. The Economist, always opposed to Brexit, is an example. It regularly “hand-bagged” voters before the vote and has done the same to the May government ever since. In this country, editorial boards, including The Globe and Mail’s, similarly decry the original Brexit decision. The critics are wrong and for reasons anchored in three realities: British history and institutions; EU dysfunction; and the sensible need to control one’s borders – especially given the first two factors. Great Britain deserves its adjective for any number of reasons…This is not a country that should permanently subsume itself into a bureaucratic pastiche in Brussels, no matter how well-intended. – Mark Milke for The Globe and Mail Andrew Green: International students – shifting sands on Immigration? There are claims that the Government is considering taking foreign students out of the immigration totals. This would certainly be the effect of the first of two amendments to the Higher Education and Research Bill will shortly return to the Commons. There is no dispute about the value that international students bring to our economy, to our universities and to our “soft power” around the world. Indeed, this is the very basis of the Government’s policy. There is absolutely no restriction on the number of students who can be admitted to study in Britain provided, of course, that they are genuine. Nor is there any restriction on the number who can stay on to work, provided that they find graduate level work paying £20,700 a year. Nonetheless, these amendments are an attempt by the Higher Education lobby, heavily represented in the Lords, to throw off the yoke of Government immigration controls, and to detach themselves from the broader immigration debate. – Lord Green of Deddington for ConservativeHome Brexit comment in brief Making and growing things at home – John Redwood’s Diary Post-Brexit, farming will have a huge role – Sarah Allison for The Scotsman Brexit news in brief UKIP Brexit spokesman to stand against Theresa May in Maidenhead – Maidenhead Advertiser Lloyds bucks expectations of post-Brexit dip as Q1 profit holds up – Daily Mail EU history museum to open May 6 – Politico UK car production hits 17-year high – The Independent Trade deal with Britain is low priority, US signals – The Times (£) New markets for Welsh firms after Brexit, says PM – BBC Turkey threatens Brexit-style vote – Daily Mail ‘That’s always been our position’ Tory MP blasts Starmer for seeking to end free movement – Daily Express Deutsche Bank weighs moving jobs from London after Brexit – Daily Mail Brexit leaves industrial firms staring into regulatory void – Daily Mail Fraudster: Brexit makes my extradition unlawful – The Times (£)