Britain triggers Brexit The letter informing the European Council of Britain’s intention to leave the European Union has been handed over to EC president Donald Tusk in Brussels. The historic declaration, signed by Prime Minister Theresa May, sets in train a two-year process of negotiation under Article 50 of the EU treaties leading to Britain’s expected withdrawal after 46 years of membership in 2019. Mrs May told MPs it was “an historic moment from which there can be no turning back”, while Mr Tusk said: “We already miss you.” In her letter to Mr Tusk, the prime minister wrote: That the UK wants to agree with the EU a “deep and special partnership” that takes in economic and security cooperation She believes it is necessary to agree the terms of the future partnership “alongside those of our withdrawal from the EU” That in the case that no deal is reached “both sides would of course cope with the change”, but that “it is not the outcome that either side should seek” – ITV News > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube: Theresa May’s statement on the triggering of Article 50 Key points from the Article 50 letter – BBC News EU leaders tell Theresa May Britain must remain in European Union until 2022 and cannot threaten to withdraw defence cooperation – Daily Telegraph May offers EU fine words, but pushes British interests – Reuters Brexit day: Donald Tusk tells Britain, ‘We already miss you’ – Daily Telegraph Ireland’s interests must be reflected in the EU’s plan, the taoiseach warned – The Times (£) May’s Battle of Britain truly begins – Politico The invoking of Article 50 was necessarily cordial. What follows may not be – Daily Telegraph editorial …as Theresa May insists Britain will have exact same trade benefits and see drop in immigration after Brexit in showdown with Andrew Neil The Prime Minister told the BBC yesterday evening that it would be a “different relationship” but one that would have the same “benefits” as we currently have, defying EU leaders who want to punish us for quitting the bloc. Speaking hours after she officially triggered Article 50 and started our divorce from Brussels, the PM also insisted that Britain would maintain tight security links with the bloc after we leave – despite warning that no deal with the EU could weaken the fight against terrorism. But she said this evening: “I think security co-operation in a number of crime and justice matters is important for us. “I would like to be able to maintain the degree of co-operation on these matters that we have currently.” – The Sun > On BrexitCentral’s YouTube: Andrew Neil’s Brexit interview with Theresa May Tough EU plan for Brexit negotiations laid bare in leaked document A resolution from the European Parliament detailing the EU’s first formal response to the starting gun being fired on the Brexit process reveals the hard line the bloc will be taking in talks. It comes as European Council president Donald Tusk received the Article 50 letter from Theresa May, formally triggering the two-year Brexit process. Among the 11 clauses laid out in the resolution – thought to have been drawn up in part by European chief negotiator Michel Barnier – set out exacting terms for the upcoming talks. It says any future deal “can only be concluded once the United Kingdom has withdrawn from the EU” and that there will be no special deal for the City of London for preferential access to the Single Market and Customs Union. – PoliticsHome Henry Newman: The danger of over-interpreting Merkel Shortly after Theresa May triggered Article 50, Angela Merkel gave a response. Her comments on the UK-EU negotiations are already being over-interpreted. Sky News, AFP, the Mirror, the Independent and many others are reporting that she has ruled out parallel negotiations. In fact what she has said is: “In the [Brexit] negotiations, it must first become clear how we now disentangle this interconnection in orderly way. And that will also be about dealing with the many rights and obligations that are linked to [EU] membership so far. Only when these questions are clarified, we can subsequently – but hopefully soon anyway – talk about our future relationship.” – Open Europe blog Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger says judges will keep listening to European Court of Justice decisions post-Brexit The president of the Supreme Court today said he and his peers will likely carry on listening to the European Court of Justice’s decisions following Brexit. Lord Neuberger told the House of Lords Constitution Committee: “It would be quite inappropriate for us to be bound in any way by decisions of the Court of Justice after we leave the Union…On the other hand, if the UK courts have a point on the equivalent legislation here to the EU legislation on which the Court of Justice in Luxembourg had reached a conclusion, it would be silly for us not to look at what they’ve said.” – City A.M. May urges Northern Ireland to form a government and engage in Brexit process British Prime Minister Theresa May called on the rival political parties in Northern Ireland to come together and form a regional government so their voice can be heard in Brexit negotiations. Northern Ireland politics has been in crisis since Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein pulled out of government in January, sparking a March 2 election that ended the majority that pro-British unionists had enjoyed in the province for almost a century. Northern Ireland voted 56 to 44 percent to remain in the European Union in last June’s referendum but the United Kingdom as a whole voted to leave. “The best result to ensure the voice of a devolved administration in Northern Ireland can be heard within these negotiations is for the parties to come together and for us to see that strong and devolved government which will provide us with that interlocutor,” May told parliament after she triggered the formal Brexit process. – Reuters We want the optimum deal for Northern Ireland post-Brexit – James Brokenshire MP for Belfast News Letter Theresa May ‘right person to lead UK into Brexit’, says DUP – ITV News Theresa May and Angus Robertson disagree on Brexit deal – BBC News Ministers to set out details of Great Repeal Bill to end supremacy of EU law The Great Repeal Bill, which comes into force the day after Brexit, will convert thousands of EU laws into British statute, with MPs then free to “amend, repeal and improve” them as they see fit. Ministers argue that without such a legislative change there would be a risk of a legal “black hole” once Brexit is complete. Brexit Secretary David Davis said the new bill, which will end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK, would be “an important step in giving businesses, workers and consumers the certainty they need”. But the House of Commons library has warned it will be one of the largest legislative projects “ever undertaken” by Parliament. Today sees the publication of a White Paper entitled ‘Legislating for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union’, with the bill itself expected in May’s Queen’s Speech before being introduced for Parliament’s summer session. – PoliticsHome …as Remainers vow to use Great Repeal Bill to ambush government Ministers will admit today that they need to change up to 1,000 pieces of legislation within the next two years to prepare the UK for Brexit. In an unprecedented parliamentary undertaking, the government will set out plans to convert or repeal hundreds of items of EU legislation on the statute book. Ministers hope to push through many of the changes through secondary legislation that is not normally voted on by MPs and Lords. However such legislation, known as statutory instruments, can easily be used by opposition parties to ambush the government and has the potential to tie up ministers in parliamentary battles for years. “We are going to launch a legislative war,” the Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, said. – The Times (£) Brexit divorce bill could be just €25.4bn – thinktank The UK could be ordered to stump up as little as €25.4bn to cover its liabilities when it leaves the EU, a thinktank has said. A study by European researchers Bruegel found that when Britain’s rebate on EU contributions was taken into consideration the final ‘divorce bill’ was likely to be far less than the €60bn mooted by eurocrats. After modelling 12 different scenarios for the final sum, the thinktank said it was most likely to end up in the region of €35.7bn. The analysis is the most thorough done so far on the EU’s assets, liabilities and commitments, and could form the starting block for the European Commission’s approach to the divorce bill talks. Just one of the models came to a final figure of more than €60bn, but Zsolt Darvas, one of the report’s authors, said a figure anywhere close to that would only be possible if the UK’s rebate were removed from the calculations. – Politics Home Prince Charles visits Romania in post-Brexit charm offensive tour of European countries Prince Charles touched down in Romania in his post-Brexit charm offensive European tour today, hours after the Prime Minister signalled the start of Britain’s exit from the European Union. He arrived in Bucharest on an RAF jet at the start of a nine-day tour to Romania, Italy and Austria. He will be joined by his wife, The Duchess of Cornwall in Florence. The trip is seen as an important part of the UK government’s mission to reassure European Union nations that Britain remains a close ally despite its intention to quit the EU. – Evening Standard Banks to London staff – no panic as Britain launches EU divorce process Banks in Britain have tried to reassure their London staff over possible Brexit disruption, including a shift in jobs to continental Europe, as Prime Minister Theresa May triggered formal EU divorce proceedings on Wednesday. Investments banks Goldman Sachs and Nomura were among those who sent messages to employees in London, Europe’s biggest financial centre, as they work out how to keep serving clients across the European Union after Britain leaves the bloc. Morgan Stanley also informed employees in Europe that no decisions had yet been made on changes for when Britain departs, leaving the EU with 27 member states. But Rob Rooney, CEO of Morgan Stanley International, was blunter in updating them on the work of a committee comprising senior leaders at the bank which has been making Brexit contingency plans for over a year. – Reuters Theresa May accused of ‘blatant threat’ to end EU security links if Brussels fails to agree trade deal The Prime Minister sparked a backlash after she explicitly linked a new deal on trade with continued co-operation on crime and terrorism. Critics claimed that May was putting both Britons’ and Europeans’ security on the line in her drive to get a “hard Brexit”. And as Labour and the Liberal Democrats, as well as a former civil service chief, rounded on her, the PM’s spokesman was forced to deny that she was unleashing a new “Project Fear” to get her way. The hardball tactics came as May formally started the two-year Brexit talks process with a formal letter to EU council chief Donald Tusk in Brussels. In her letter, but not in her Commons statement, she warned that it would be a “costly mistake” to punish the UK by failing to agree a deal on trade and other issues. – Huffington Post Theresa May gives no cut-off date for freedom of movement In her letter to Donald Tusk, Theresa May did not name a specific date on which EU citizens will lose the automatic right to move to the UK, suggesting that the “cut-off” will end up being the day of Brexit itself. The letter to the European council president was vague about the terms on which EU citizens would be able to move to the UK in future under a new immigration system from March 2019. But the prime minister repeated her promise to seek an early deal on guaranteeing the rights of those already in the UK to stay – as long as there is a reciprocal deal for Britons in the rest of Europe. – The Guardian Cameron: I was Eurosceptic all along David Cameron spent the day that Theresa May triggered the Brexit process at an event in Ukraine backed by a local billionaire. The former prime minister, who has made a series of lucrative speeches across the world since the vote for Brexit torpedoed his premiership, was said to have spoken at an event at the invitation of the tycoon Victor Pinchuk, whose company supplies pipes to the Russian energy giant Gazprom. In a hint that he is coming to terms with the Brexit vote, Mr Cameron said that he had always disliked “the European flag and the European parliament”. However, he praised the European Union for its effective joint action in protecting Ukraine’s borders from Russian incursions. He suggested that his leadership of the remain campaign did not stop him being a Eurosceptic. – The Times (£) Brexit timetable: Brussels takes three-stepped approach to talks Brussels wants a three-phase approach to Brexit talks, a schedule with far-reaching implications for British politics and companies managing risk from the world’s most complex negotiation. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, calculates there are roughly 18 months — from June 2017 to late October 2018 — for negotiations once ratification time and preparatory work are taken into account. He splits that negotiating window into three separate topics: disentangling past ties and commitments; setting goals for future relations; and arranging transition terms to avoid unnecessary disruption. Each one could take between four and eight months. – FT (£) Royal charm offensive to keep the Continent onside The UK may be leaving the EU, but the royal family is going into Europe: frequently, and repeatedly. As the prime minister triggered the start of Britain’s formal withdrawal, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall began a European charm offensive. Their nine-day visit, which will take in Romania, Italy and Austria, started yesterday in Bucharest. The prince and duchess will also have an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Using the royal family to bolster relations is nothing new. What has been striking over the past months is how many royal visits have involved Europe. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited France this month, and in July they are due to go on a tour of Germany and Poland. In May the Duchess will make a solo trip to Luxembourg. In June King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain will make a state visit to the UK, the first by a Spanish monarch since 1986. – The Times (£) Nicola Sturgeon ‘out of touch’ with Scots over Brexit as poll shows support for Theresa May vision Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of being out of touch with Scotland about Brexit after a major survey found almost two-thirds of Scots oppose her demand for a different deal and support Theresa May’s UK-wide blueprint. The First Minister’s justification for a second independence referendum was severely undermined by the NatCen research, which found 62 per cent of Scots think trade and immigration rules should be the same as in the rest of the UK. An overwhelming majority also support Mrs May’s plan to curtail free movement from the EU and oppose the First Minister’s insistence that it continue, with 64 per cent believing that immigrants from the Continent should be subject to the same restrictions as those from elsewhere in the world. – Daily Telegraph Theresa May promises Scotland ‘significant’ extra powers as Sturgeon referendum timetable suffers blow – Daily Telegraph Nicola Sturgeon can demand and shout all she likes, but our focus is on Brexit not IndyRef2 – Tom Harris for the Daily Telegraph Theresa May should attach ‘sunset clauses’ to EU red tape written into UK law to force Government civil servants to review – or scrap them Theresa May should attach time limits to European Union laws when they are written into UK law to force civil servants to scrap or reform them, a senior economist at Margaret Thatcher’s favourite think tank has said. Julian Jessop, the chief economist at the Institute for Economic Affairs, said the Prime Minister should attach “sunset clauses” to laws that are repatriated in the Great Repeal Bill ahead of Brexit. These “use by” dates would force civil servants to review EU legislation at set milestones, for example within five or 10 years. The news came as David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, said between 800 and 1,000 statutory instruments were needed to pass EU rules into British law. Mr Jessop said that adding in time limits would put a burden on civil servants to “review legislation properly” after Britain leaves the EU in March 2019. – Daily Telegraph Brexit is a once in a lifetime opportunity to sweep away red tape and free Britain’s economy – Michael Fabricant for the Daily Telegraph ‘You can still stop Brexit,’ EU lawmakers to tell Britons European Union lawmakers want to tell Britons they can change their minds and stay in the EU after Prime Minister Theresa May triggers a two-year Brexit countdown on Wednesday. The European Parliament is drafting a resolution to respond to May’s notice of withdrawal under Article 50 of the EU treaty. Senior lawmakers said it would stress London could still halt the process, as long as the other member states agreed. The resolution text is not yet final but the intent is to strengthen the hand of those in Britain who want to halt Brexit. – Reuters Boris Johnson: Now it’s time to back Britain and go global So here we go. After nine months on the launch pad, Britain finally engaged the most famous ignition sequence in diplomatic history. At 12.29 pm London time, the Prime Minister’s Article 50 letter was delivered in Brussels and the countdown began. After nine months of meticulous legal, technical and political preparation, the engines switched on and are today firing in an irreversible crescendo. The negotiations are now underway, and when they are complete this country will have lift off – blast off – for an extraordinary voyage. We are all going together on a mission to create new friendships, to rekindle old relationships, to search for new trading opportunities as this country was able to do for hundreds of years – and all the while preserving what is most advantageous, to both sides, in our longstanding partnership with Europe. – Boris Johnson for the Daily Telegraph David Davis: The triggering of Article 50 will let us get out into the world and show how great this country is Today is the first day of a new, Global Britain. For years, there’s been debate and argument over our future in the EU. Yesterday, that question was put to bed. No ifs, no buts, no turning back – Britain is leaving the EU. As promised the Government has respected the decision taken in last year’s referendum. The PM gave Brussels formal notice of our departure, and soon talks will begin. Leaving was a result I campaigned for – and one I know was backed by the Sun and the majority of its readers. I genuinely believe our future outside will be better and brighter. Leaving will allow us to get out into the world and show how great this country really is, standing on its own two feet. – David Davis for The Sun The Spectator: A generous, globally-minded Brexit could reunite a divided country Public opinion on Brexit remains evenly balanced, and there’s no point in any Conservative pretending otherwise. About half the nation did not want their Prime Minister to trigger Article 50 today, and Theresa May should primarily concern herself with her fellow Remainers – especially in Scotland. Many of them will see, in Brexit, the triumph of ugly nativism or a nostalgic isolationism. Her Lancaster House speech in January laid out a compelling, globally minded vision of Brexit. Emphasising that message will be key to addressing the worst fears of Remain voters. – The Spectator Coffee House blog Gisela Stuart MP: Leaving the EU doesn’t mean we have to lose free trade and still keep the things that are important to us We have formally notified the European Union that we are leaving . The Prime Minister said she wants a smooth and orderly process. It means that we will be taking control of our borders, our laws, our taxes and our trade relationships. It is what she called the things that matter most to us. There were a significant number of traditional Labour supporters who voted to leave the European Union . Many of them in our heartlands. They were the ones who experienced first hand some of the problems of free movement of labour, goods and capital, the things which define the single market. Their communities were harmed by employers who rather than train the local workforce would recruit from abroad. – Gisela Stuart for the Daily Mirror Theresa May’s Article 50 letter strikes the right tone Theresa May is trying to play the role of the great conciliator today. She has avoided any hint of triumphalism or saying anything that the European Union would instantly reject. Instead, she has emphasised her desire for a ‘deep and special partnership’ with the European Union and that the UK wants to be the ‘best friend and neighbour’ to the EU. She has not repeated her Lancaster House message that she thinks ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ or threatened to change the UK economic model if no free trade agreement with the EU can be struck. – James Forsyth for The Spectator’s Coffee House blog Andrew Lilico: Brexit is both victory and defeat for Euroscepticism My first political memories come from early 1982, with my old man telling me that he thought the SDP would win the next General Election. He was wrong about that. But he was right when he explained to me a few months later not only that he would live to see a united Germany, but when it would occur. For me, growing up, our membership of the EU and a divided Germany seemed like immoveable features of the geopolitical landscape. But, then, German unification taught me — and, I suspect, many others like me — that what seems eternal in politics can change very quickly. Geopolitical structures become obsolete, the world moves on, and in the end, forces seeking this or that find they can achieve it if they can get the people on side. – Andrew Lilico for CapX Allister Heath: Brexit is Britain’s chance to show what Europe is really about: liberty, democracy, and true national diversity It ought to come as no surprise that one of the great Brexiteer heroes is actually French. I’m referring, of course, to Charles de Gaulle, who as France’s president twice vetoed the UK’s bid to join what was then the European Economic Community. When de Gaulle said “Non” in 1963 and again in 1967, the British were outraged: given that the UK did so much to make Le Général who he was, harbouring Free French troops and tolerating his many conceits, how could he possibly repay us in this way? Yet he was doing Britain a favour: we were the wrong country seeking to join the wrong club. Signing up to the project would eventually require the UK to accept a vision that was incompatible with Britain’s internationalist island mindset, its own successful, evolved institutions and its view, not disproved by the horrors of self-imposed fascism or Nazi or Soviet occupation, that democratic people power wasn’t to be feared. – Allister Heath for the Daily Telegraph Juliet Samuel: I voted Remain, but these delusional Remainers are damaging Britain It wasn’t until the long morning of June 24 that I realised how thoroughly the EU had permeated my world. I, who wasn’t even born when Margaret Thatcher negotiated the rebate, watched from my sofa through the night as the country I thought I knew defied all my expectations and voted for a quiet revolution. I had been torturously on the fence about Brexit. My principles had said “out”, but my pragmatism – on geopolitics, not the economy – had won out and, in the end, I voted “remain”. So when the country voted the other way, in accordance with my principles, perhaps I should have been happy. Instead, I was knocked totally off balance, not by thoughts of politics, prosperity or anything quite so grand and momentous. – Juliet Samuel for the Daily Telegraph Richard Tice: Of course no deal is better than a bad deal – I hope Theresa May has not abandoned this stance The Prime Minister’s invoking of Article 50 today is a promising start to a chapter that will define our national renewal, a destiny chosen by the British people on June 23 last year – but we must treat it with caution, knowing that the job of leaving the EU is not yet done, it is only just beginning. While key elements of Theresa May’s letter to Donald Tusk give me cause for optimism, there are some aspects of it which should act as a reminder to all of us who believe in an optimistic vision of Brexit that we are going to have to make our voices heard over the next two years. – Richard Tice for the Daily Telegraph Dan Dalton MEP: I’m a fan of the Single Market. But it’s clear we must leave it Whilst the Government has made clear its intentions, some have continued the debate around UK membership of the EU Single Market. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP are all arguing fervently for continued membership, with the SNP threatening to break up the UK over the issue. I voted Remain, and have spent the last two years as an MEP as a strong advocate of the Single Market, believing in its potential. So it may surprise some readers that I don’t believe the UK should stay in the Single Market after we leave the EU. The Single Market was a good innovation, with the potential to be the ultimate free trade agreement. It offered the dream of no tariffs, the same rules on product standards for 500 million consumers and huge gains in economies of scale for European companies. It also promised the end of artificial non-tariff barriers. – Daniel Dalton MEP for ConservativeHome Mark Field MP: How Britain can master the long journey out of the EU So little of the frenetic energy expended since the Brexit vote last summer has focused on any strategic thinking about the type of Britain that will emerge from the EU in just two years’ time. But there has lately been a heartening opening up by senior EU figures. The EU’s chief parliamentary negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, has proposed as an opening salvo that UK citizens be allowed an individual opt-in to remain citizens of the EU. In reciprocal mode, I anticipate the UK swiftly assuaging the genuine anxiety of many of those citizens from all corners of the EU who have been living and working in the UK since before 23 June about their future status. Providing this level of reassurance will also send the clearest possible signal to the world that the UK wishes to remain an outward looking, globally engaged nation and economy. – Mark Field MP for City A.M. Brexit in brief The Brilliance of Brexit – Spiked 100 reasons why Brexit was a good thing – Asa Bennett for the Daily Telegraph New trade ties in the spotlight as May triggers Article 50 – Dr Mark McClelland for Politics Home Theresa May and the Rise of the Brexiteers – National Interest Article 50: The dawn of a new democratic era – Tom Slater for Spiked Making up may be hard, but we all need friends in Brexit land – Will Walden and Lucy Thomas for The Times (£) May must be bold but pragmatic to deliver a People’s Brexit – Tom Startup for The Times (£) Theresa May has handled run-up to Article 50 cleverly – Leo McKinstry for the Daily Express Nine months of Brexit: The financial winners and losers as the Prime Minister triggers Article 50 – City A.M. Brexit’s cliff edge: ‘business as usual’ not an option – Reuters