Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team EU reportedly willing to soften position over ECJ role in protecting citizen’s rights The European Union is willing to give ground on its demand that its judges protect the future rights of EU citizens in the U.K., according to three EU officials, potentially eliminating a major obstruction to progress in the Brexit negotiations. In what would be a significant concession to the U.K., the EU could settle for alternatives to its original position that the European Court of Justice must be the ultimate arbiter. That would put the onus back in the U.K. to increase the level of protection it’s offering, which the EU says is below existing rights. – Bloomberg A Government source told Sky News that a new oversight body for EU citizens was shaping up as a “serious option” in a bid to find a compromise between the European Commission and the UK over who should protect EU citizens living in the UK. – Sky News UK may need Brexit transition period, but it will not be unlimited, May tells MPs Britain may need an implementation period to smooth its exit from the European Union but there will be no unlimited transition, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday. “When we know what the future relationship with the EU will be, we may need implementation periods,” May told parliament. “But I am very clear, this does not mean unlimited transitional phase: We are going to leave the European Union. That’s what people wanted and that’s what we will deliver.” – Reuters We need a time-limited Brexit transition to unite the country – Garvan Walshe for ConservativeHome Enough talk about a transitional deal with the EU – Alexander Fiuza for Get Britain Out > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube: Theresa May on a Brexit “implementation period” MPs set to approve Government’s programme as they vote on Queen’s speech tonight Theresa May faces the first big test for her new government on Thursday as parliament votes to approve her Queen’s Speech as tensions over Brexit and austerity loom over her fragile administration. Mrs May this week bought the support of 10 Democratic Unionist party MPs by promising £1bn of extra spending in Northern Ireland, guaranteeing her 326 votes in the crucial Commons vote against a possible 313 opposition votes. – FT (£) Commission looks to sacrifice agriculture to plug Brexit budget hole… The European Commission floated the idea of making significant reductions to the amount of money spent on agriculture as a way to fill a multibillion euro shortfall awaiting Europe’s budget after Brexit. Confronted with a roughly €12 billion annual funding gap because of the departure of the U.K. from the EU in March 2019, the Commission said Wednesday that the €58 billion-a-year Common Agricultural Policy would come under significant pressure in its plans for spending after 2020. – Politico …while considering new taxes to recoup the shortfall The European Commission in considering new taxes for EU members to fill the funding gap that will emerge when the UK exits the bloc… In a report on the future of EU financing, the European Commission said: “The gap in EU finances arising from the United Kingdom’s withdrawal and from the financing needs of new priorities need to be clearly acknowledged.” The report suggests that the new funding could come from common energy or environmental taxes, which would be applied to make sure there is a “level playing field” for companies contributing to fight climate change. – City A.M. Brexit set to blow hole in common EU budget, Brussels warns – FT (£) https://www.ft.com/content/222b7d4c-5b59-11e7-9bc8-8055f264aa8b Brexit will leave EU with £20 billion budget blackhole – handing Theresa May a huge trump card – The Sun The EU presses for higher and more EU taxes – John Redwood MP for John Redwood’s Diary UK has ‘lots of legal advice’ to reject €60 billion Brexit bill The UK’s Brexit negotiators claim they have had “lots of legal advice” suggesting that the €60 billion Brexit bill should not be paid to Brussels, EURACTIV.com has learned. The bill the UK will have to settle after it leaves the bloc on 29 March 2019 is one of the most contentious issues in the ongoing divorce talks between Britain and the EU. EU officials have already made clear that Britain would have to honour all its financial commitments under the EU’s long-term budget, which covers the 2014-2020 period, even after leaving the Union. The UK is currently the second largest net contributor to the EU budget, after Germany. – EurActiv ID cards plan for EU nationals ‘will be Brexit talks flashpoint’ The UK’s plans to introduce mandatory biometric residence identity cards for EU nationals and new rules on family members joining them are expected to prove major flashpoints in the next set of Brexit talks in a fortnight’s time, a leading British MEP has warned. – Guardian New Taoiseach Varadkar warns Irish border issue won’t be easy to solve The Taoiseach has said it will be practically and legally “extremely difficult” to find ways to maintain an open border with Northern Ireland after Brexit, even with the sympathy and goodwill of the European Union. The border is set to be the only land frontier between the United Kingdom and the EU once Britain leaves the bloc in early 2019. – RTE Brexit risk ‘may hurt Irish’ – Times (£) EU exploring invisible border in Ireland post Brexit – Politico Britain warned Ireland against ‘opportunistic’ Brexit attack on City Britain warned Ireland not to launch an “aggressive and opportunistic” campaign to steal business from the City of London in the wake of Brexit vote, a senior figure in Ireland’s Investment and Development Agency (EDA) has revealed. Kieran Donoghue, the EDA’s head of strategy and public policy, said the friendly warning had been delivered over dinner by the former UK ambassador to Ireland soon after last year’s vote to leave. – Telegraph German finance minister hopes UK ‘will realise Brexit mistake’ Britons will realise they “made a mistake” over Brexit if the EU flourishes, Germany’s finance minister is hoping. Wolfgang Schaeuble outlined his wish for the bloc to perform “so well” it leads UK voters to change their mind on leaving the EU. Speaking at an event in Berlin on Wednesday, he said: “I hope that the rest of Europe will do so well the British realise at some point they made a mistake.” – Sky News Repeal Bill takes a great weight off The bill itself remains critically important if the UK is to transition calmly into post-Brexit reality. Which is why, this week, Linklaters, with TheCityUK, the City of London and the International Regulatory Research Group, launched a 40-plus page report, The Great Repeal Bill, to “assist government in its preparations for Brexit . . . [and] clarify issues surrounding the Great Repeal Bill for individuals and businesses and help them plan for the future”. – Times (£) All you need to know about the Repeal Bill – BBC News Theresa May will find it ‘impossible to end EU free movement by 2019’, claims think-tank Theresa May will find it impossible to end EU free movement in 2019 because of the huge task in processing EU national residency permits, a think tank claims. The Home Office on Monday confirmed all three million EU nationals will have to apply to gain “settled status” and stay in the UK for life. A new IT system will be set up to try and cope with the deluge of applications over the next 21 months. And the Institute for Government said it was clear the administrative burden made it impossible for Theresa May to introduce a whole new immigration system by the time we leave the EU in March 2019. – The Sun One in six London workers are EU nationals as employers warily eye immigration restrictions More than one in every six workers in London are EU nationals, according to new research which underlines the vulnerability of the capital to restrictions on immigration after Brexit. Some 17 per cent of the London labour force come from the EU, by far the highest proportion among the British regions, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and the Migration Policy Institute. – City A.M. Scottish government minister ‘not 100% convinced’ Brexit will happen Scotland’s Brexit Minister has told a Holyrood committee that he is “not 100% convinced” the UK will leave the EU. Michael Russell said while Brexit was “still the trajectory”, the result of the General Election – which saw the Conservative government lose its majority – had made it less certain, with “many options” still possible. – Evening Express Bull semen contains seed of discord for Brexit talks Bull semen entered the Brexit negotiations on Wednesday as the EU began the daunting task of listing how traded goods will be defined at the very point of the UK’s withdrawal. A confidential European Commission position paper, shared with EU member states and seen by the Financial Times, attempts to clarify the legal framework for “goods on market” on the day Britain leaves the EU in March 2019. – FT (£) Joe Ware: How Brexit could break the cycle of poverty In the run-up to the Brexit negotiations there were numerous calls for the Government to confirm that the rights of EU citizens living and working in the UK would be secure. With talks now officially underway the Government has moved to address this with a “big and generous” offer according to Number 10 – or something “vague and pathetic” according to some of those on the EU side. – Joe Ware for CapX Asa Bennett: Britain is now more Eurosceptic than ever, so public fury is inevitable if Theresa May fudges Brexit The country is “coming together” behind Brexit, Theresa May said as she launched her ill-fated snap election, “but Westminster is not”. Harmony has still yet to break out in SW1. Labour and Liberal Democrat peers now threaten to use the PM’s failure to win a majority as justification to sabotage Brexit. Still, the Prime Minister can console herself with the knowledge that the British people are moving in the right direction. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph Brian Monteith: Our biased broadcasters must admit the EU is no panacea It’s easy to knock down a straw man (or woman) but by mentioning patriotism Leadsom was merely asking that our own country be given a fair hearing – that broadcasters recognise the EU has its own agenda and is questioned just as hard as our government is. And she does have a point. A day rarely passes that does not start with the BBC’s Today programme offering a bad news story that is linked to Brexit. By the time the moon rises, BBC’s Newsnight is doing the same. – Brian Monteith for City A.M. Sionaidh Douglas-Scott: Can Scotland block Brexit? Scotland has no legal right as such, to block Brexit. However, devolved nations are not powerless in the Brexit process, and a closer look at their constitutional powers illustrates that they must not be ignored. – Sionaidh Douglas-Scott for Prospect Brexit in brief Harry Mead: Remainers who refuses to accept EU referendum result are determined to wreck Brexit – Northern Echo The EU can’t escape its economic legacy – Jack Tagholm-Child for CapX How Britain’s Brexiters lost control of Brexit – Philip Stevens for the FT (£) The DUP’s deal with the Conservatives is not a bribe – it will strengthen all of Britain – Nigel Dodds MP for the Telegraph (£) Turning our economy French is the worst way to prepare for Brexit. It won’t save the Tories either – Rupert Darwall for the Telegraph Five steps towards a post-Brexit immigration policy – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome The EU’s future is far from secure – Jack Tagholm-Child for Get Britain Out Lord Tebbit savages Boris Johnson as he urges Tories to choose next leader from ‘new generation’. – Telegraph Nicky Morgan: Theresa May should quit as Prime Minister by next autumn – PoliticsHome Pound spikes after Mark Carney says higher interest rates likely to become ‘necessary’ – Telegraph UK house prices rebound in June – FT (£)